


Feral

by twdeadfanfic



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Daryl Dixon, POV Third Person, badass woman, original female character(s) of color - Freeform, prison era, shyness and fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28859793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twdeadfanfic/pseuds/twdeadfanfic
Summary: Daryl is on a run with Rick when, in a warehouse, they find a woman who attacks them, and who reminds Daryl to a lioness…or a feral cat, and who doesn’t seem to trust anyone, including them, but Daryl finds himself going back to the warehouse, trying to get that feral cat to trust him and to go with him to the prison.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon & OC, Daryl Dixon & Original Character(s), Daryl Dixon & Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon x OC - Relationship, Daryl Dixon/Original Character(s), Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s) of Color, daryl dixon & Original Female Character(s) of Color, daryl dixon/OC - Relationship
Comments: 17
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Daryl frowned as he looked at the small warehouse, surveying it… it looked abandoned, but what didn’t look like that now, although the small windows had planks of wood nailed to them, closing them almost completely, so at some point, somebody had been there and tried to secure it. There weren’t walkers around but there was nothing there to attract them after all.

“What do you think?” Rick asked.

“That we ain’t gonna find shit inside.” Daryl shrugged and Rick chuckled, smiling.

“That’s why you and I are here instead of a team, least we can do is check it. Come on.”

They walked to the door and Daryl knocked on it, but they didn’t hear anything coming from the inside, no growls, no bumps against the door. Rick looked at Daryl and shrugged, and he went to open the door while Daryl got his crossbow ready in front of him. The door seemed to be stuck, though, and it wouldn’t relent while Rick tried to pull it up.

“Help me out.”

Daryl shouldered his crossbow again and went to help Rick to tug at the door, but it seemed to be really stuck or locked, and it took them a while of trying until finally they managed to lift it, grunting at the effort.

“Alright…get the weapons ready, someone could have blocked it from the inside.” Everything was silent and dark as they walked in, though. “Alright…I go to the left you to the right.” Rick said quietly, gun in front of him and Daryl nodded. There didn’t seem to be people or walkers inside, though.

Daryl looked around again as he walked, trying to find something useful, but he couldn’t find anything. “Told you, place is empty,” he said to Rick, who was inspecting the other side of the warehouse. “We ain’t gonna find shit.”

“I can’t see anything,” Rick complained, lowering down his gun and holding it just with one hand so he could take his lantern.

Daryl was going to do the same when suddenly and out of nowhere, a woman jumped on Rick, startling both him and Daryl…he’d been so sure that the place was empty that for a second, Daryl was too shocked to move. The woman growled as she managed to slap Rick’s gun out of his hand, taking him by surprise, and then she was trying to stab him with a knife, but Rick reacted on time, holding her arms, trying to stop her.

Daryl reacted too, aiming his crossbow at her, but he was afraid of shooting, she and Rick were struggling and moving, and he didn’t want to risk shooting at Rick. “Stop it!” He yelled, but the woman ignored him.

Daryl ran to them while Rick managed to make the woman drop the knife and he pushed her away from him, but she didn’t let go and both fell to the ground where they kept struggling on the ground, the woman growling and trying to break free from Rick’s grasp, kneeling and kicking at him while Rick tried to pin her down. Daryl was sure that Rick had her, she had stopped struggling, when suddenly the woman hit her knee up onto Rick’s groin, hard, and Daryl couldn’t help his own wince as Rick groaned, falling onto his side on the floor.

“Don’t move!” He yelled at the woman again, who once again didn’t listen as she crawled towards Rick’s dropped gun, and so Daryl shot, the arrow hitting the floor right next to the woman’s hand, making her stop and look at him. “I told you not to move!”

The woman growled, looking at him, but she stopped moving. Daryl approached her, keeping his crossbow aimed at her as he studied her. Her hair was wild, a long mane of matted and knotted dark curls, some of it falling over her dirty face, almost hiding her eyes, black and bright with rage, almost as wild as her hair. Her dark skin showed old wounds and marks, she had a scar going from her hairline to her eyebrow, and another one across her lip, and Daryl couldn’t help but wonder if she’d have more under the dirty, ripped clothes that she was wearing.

“Don’t move,” Daryl warned again, kicking her knife away from her on the floor. The woman didn’t move from her spot, panting, stormy eyes focused on him. “Rick, you alright?”

Daryl turned his gaze towards Rick, who was sitting up, groaning. It was just for a second, less than a second, but it seemed that it was enough for the woman to get up and jump on him, grabbing his crossbow, struggling as she tried to take it from him, and Daryl didn’t know how he stopped himself from pressing the trigger or why, maybe the shock, but he shoved the woman away from him, hard, making her stumble backward.

Daryl went to aim her crossbow at her again, but Rick had recovered and he grabbed the woman from behind, throwing her onto her knees hard and pressing his gun, that he had gotten again, to the back of her head. “Are you gonna stop now?!”

The woman was breathing hard, glaring at Daryl as if she was going to throw herself at him again, but Rick had his gun pointed to the back of her head, and Daryl had his crossbow aimed to her face, so he thought the woman would finally stop. It seemed like so, and Daryl noticed her shaking, though it seemed like more in rage and frustration than in fear.

He was impressed, though, she was only one, she only had a knife, and she was quite shorter than them, yet she had put up a hell of a fight against him and Rick, seeming almost like a lioness in Daryl’s mind. She looked like she had gone through hell and back, and Daryl wondered what was her story…if she was a crazy woman, or just one of those assholes, murderers and whatnot that now roamed the world free to do as they pleased, or maybe nothing like that, maybe someone fighting for her life…weren’t they all now. If she just stopped for a second and listened… Whatever she was, she was a survivor, that for sure.

“Shoot.” The woman’s voice was low and raspy, as if she didn’t use it much, and her words took Daryl aback. Daryl and Rick looked at each other, and Rick seemed as surprised and shocked as him. “Shoot,” the woman growled again.

Rick and Daryl could just keep looking at each other and at the woman in shock, when suddenly she was turning onto her knees, grabbing Rick’s gun. Daryl almost lose the arrow and he was sure that Rick almost, almost shot, but the woman wasn’t trying to take the gun from him, she was pointing it to her forehead and trying to squeeze Rick’s hand to make him press the trigger.

Rick managed to break free of her grasp, though, and he pushed her back, making her fall onto her backside. It suddenly dimmed on Daryl what was going on, despite his shock. The woman thought that she was defeated, that she’d lost, and she had tried to make them kill her or shoot at herself. She didn’t want to be captured alive. So either she was a spy or some shit hiding information that nobody should know, which was stupid, or…what could she think that was going to happen to her if they took her alive, to rather kill herself…the idea made Daryl uneasy.

It seemed that the woman thought that she didn’t have anything to lose, since she had just tried to kill herself, and she was set on not surrendering, soon she was trying to throw herself at Rick again. “Rick, Rick, don’t shoot!” Daryl found himself saying, but Rick wasn’t shooting at the woman, just trying to keep her away from him, holding her arms, struggling and cursing at a woman who again reminded Daryl to a lioness…or to those feral cats that lived in his town, once a dog had tried to get one of them, and the little feline beast had jumped onto the dog’s face, making quite a mess of it in two seconds before running away, and the image was suddenly coming back to Daryl’s mind as she saw the woman and Rick struggling.

It probably was more than unwise, but Daryl dropped the crossbow and just grabbed the woman’s arms, tugging her away from Rick, pressing her back to his chest as he tried to make her stop, but the woman hissed and cursed, struggling and trying to kick back at him. “Stop it, woman, stop a second!” She didn’t, instead she turned her head to the side and sank her teeth onto Daryl’s arm, hard. “Fuck!” Daryl cursed in shock, and he couldn’t stop himself from shoving the woman away from him, making her fall in front of him

Daryl didn’t know how to make her stop fighting, it didn’t seem like she was going to stop until she was dead or she’d killed them. Rick had managed to push the woman onto her belly, though, tugging at her arms, putting them behind her back, and Daryl guessed he was going to tie her up, but it only made the woman struggle more. She growled and cursed, trying to struggle away from Rick’s grasp, and Daryl noticed tears in her furious and full of rage eyes.

“Daryl, give me the rope.”

Daryl kept looking at the woman, that spiteful ball of anger and fierceness, but who would rather die than let them capture her, who looked like she’d gone through hell, unsure about what to do, torn…finally, he didn’t get the rope, and instead he knelt in front of the woman and Rick, reaching out her hands to show her that he was unarmed, while the woman glared at him.

“What are you doing?!” Risk asked and Daryl didn’t know, probably something unwise… but the woman had stopped struggling as she looked at him, studying him.

“We’re scaring her.”

“Scaring her?” Rick scoffed.

“Look at her, man…she was probably hiding here, she doesn’t know we ain’t gonna hurt her,” Daryl tried to reason, even though he understood that after being kicked on the nuts, Rick wasn’t probably in the best mood to deal with the woman. “Let her go.”

“Let her go?” Rick scoffed. “So she can rip off your throat with her teeth? Because she looks like she might do that.” Daryl didn’t say anything, even though the lioness did look like that, and he just gave Rick a look, and Rick shook his head but pulled the woman up so she’d sit back on her knees, relaxing his grip on her but without letting go of her arms. Daryl thought that the woman might start struggling again and he wouldn’t know what to do then, but she didn’t, she looked up at Rick and then at him, and again, she reminded him to a feral, cornered cat.

“We ain’t gonna hurt you,” Daryl told her softly, still holding his hands in front of him. “We saw this warehouse, thought we could find something inside, we didn’t know that someone was in here. We ain’t gonna hurt you, okay? But you gotta stop attacking us, alright? Stop it.” The woman wasn’t saying anything, just looked at him. “Let her go, Rick.”

Rick seemed reluctant, but finally he released the woman’s arms, and she shifted away from them on the ground, looking at them as if she wasn’t sure that they weren’t just going to attack her, but she didn’t throw herself at them. Rick nodded at Daryl, getting up, but Daryl kept himself knelt on the ground, eye-level with the woman.

“You alone in here?” Daryl asked her softly and she didn’t answer, but Daryl was sure that she was. “Look, we got a place-”

“Daryl, we should talk before.” Rick stopped him.

“Rick, look at her.” Daryl couldn’t know what had happened to her, but something for sure. Rick seemed reluctant again, but finally he nodded.

“We got a place with more people. It was a prison, so it’s well protected from walkers and people, it’s safe. There’s food and water,” Daryl explained. “You can come with us.”

“No,” the woman rasped and Daryl should have imagined it.

“I know, I get it, you don’t trust it, I wouldn’t either,” he told her softly. “But it’s true, and we ain’t gonna hurt you, nobody there would. I promise. You ain’t the first one we take. Nobody will hurt you.” The woman’s eyes darted back and forth from him to Rick, still looking like a cornered animal, silent.

“How many walkers have you killed?” Rick asked and the woman frowned at him. “Answer it.” The woman looked at Daryl and he nodded encouragingly, though he wasn’t sure if the woman looked like she was going to answer, or like she was going to run away, or maybe even attack them again.

“Many,” the woman answered in a low rasp, and Daryl was as surprised as he was relieved to see her responding to Rick.

“And how many people?”

“Many,” the woman said again, her voice raspy and quiet, looking down for a second before glaring at them again, and Rick exchanged a look with Daryl.

“Why?”

The woman shrugged, looking down as he swallowed hard, before her mistrustful eyes were back to them. “Survival, first…then…vengeance…” She muttered quietly.

“We all have done shit, Rick,” Daryl said.

“Yeah…but what if we take her and she attacks someone at home?”

“She won’t, she attacked us because she thought we were going to hurt her…right?” Daryl asked the woman, but she was silent again.

“She doesn’t want to come,” Rick said and Daryl hated that it looked like he was right. “Daryl is right, though. We have food and shelter, a big group of people, and it’s safe…we have to keep it safe, that’s why we have to make sure that we are only taking in the right people. But Daryl hasn’t been mistaken about someone yet so…what’s going to be?”

The woman looked at him, then at Daryl, and then to the ground, before she looked at Rick again. “No.”

“We ain’t lying,” Daryl tried again, but the woman just moved further away from him, and he felt Rick’s hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, we have to go,” Rick told him and Daryl looked at him, shaking his head.

“We can’t leave her alone here.”

“What do you want us to do? Tie her up, take her with us kicking and screaming?” Rick nodded at the woman, who had gotten her knife again and was looking at them as if ready to pounce if she felt threatened again. Daryl hated it, but it seemed like Rick was right. “Come on.” Rick squeezed his shoulder. “We have to go back.”

He got up and took his crossbow, shouldering it, and with a last look at the woman, who still seemed ready to stab them or run away, he followed Rick outside.

*

Daryl couldn’t stop thinking about that woman, all alone in that warehouse, fierce and feral but at the same time, looking hurt too. Rick had noticed his mood, and had told him that Daryl had done all he could, which Daryl wasn’t very sure of, and that the woman looked like she could survive alright on her own. Yeah…but she didn’t have to, she shouldn’t have to, even if she could. And in that world, being alone, nobody to have your back…it was hard.

He couldn’t sleep that night and finally, he made a decision, though he was sure Rick wouldn’t agree…he wasn’t going to tell anyone, though. As soon as the sun was rising, Daryl got up and went to the kitchen, sneaking into his bag some meat that he had dried and a bottle of water. Then he went to take his bike, and after telling the person on door duty that he was going to check a nearby area, Daryl rode to the warehouse.

Once there, Daryl walked to the door and knocked on it. “Hey…woman? It’s Daryl. The guy from yesterday…the one you bit?” There was no answer, though Daryl hadn’t been very hopeful. “Look, I, uh…I brought you some food…I’m gonna leave it out here, okay?” There was still no sound from the inside, and Daryl left the package of dried meat and the bottle of water near the door but far enough so the woman had to walk outside. Then, he walked away, hiding.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Daryl wondered if maybe the woman wasn’t there, if she had left, if she had been afraid that maybe him and Rick would come back to hurt her, or if something had happened to her… But then, the door of the warehouse lifted, just enough for the woman to look outside. She noticed the package and she looked around before she lifted the door completely, walking outside and crouching next to the package of dried meat, inspecting it suspiciously.

“Ain’t poisoned or nothing,” Daryl said, walking out of his hiding spot, and the woman’s wild eyes went to him, startled. She took her knife and made to retreat back into the warehouse, and Daryl didn’t know how to stop her, but at least she wasn’t jumping on him to stab him, that was better than the day before. Still, he didn’t want her to hide before he could talk to her again.

“Wait, wait! Wait a second!” Daryl held his hands in front of him, showing her that he was unharmed. He had his knife sheathed, and in a probably more than unwise decision, he’d left his crossbow on the bike, hoping that the woman would feel less threatened. “I ain’t gonna hurt you, see? I ain’t gonna hurt you.” The woman had retreated back to the warehouse, hands on the door, about to close it, but she looked at Daryl and stopped. “I ain’t gonna hurt you…that’s…that’s rabbit, I hunt it and dried it. Take it, okay?”

“Why?”

Daryl shrugged. “Yesterday it didn’t seem like you had food around….though maybe you have it hidden…just take it…but…” Daryl chewed on his thumbnail, deciding to try again. “I wasn’t lying, we got a safe place and nobody would hurt you, we got more food than that, we got water, you’ll be safe. I promise.”

“No.”

Daryl let out a sigh…he really didn’t know what to do. “I ain’t lying…it’s better than being alone in here, yeah? I…I didn’t use to think like that, thought I was better on my own…But this world? It ain’t good to be alone anymore. I promise, we ain’t gonna hurt you and it’s safe. Okay?”

The woman was silent still, seeming to study him, and Daryl noticed her eyes stopping on a bandage on his arm. Daryl scoffed, smirking. “Yeah, that’s your bite. Rick dragged me to our infirmary, said people’s bites get all infected easy. We got a doctor too, yeah, Hershel…well, he was a veterinarian first…but in this case that’s better, yeah? Cause I feel like I was bitten by a feral cat…I’m surprised you didn’t get me rabies.” Daryl joked darkly, unsure of how the woman was going to react.

The woman looked at him and silence…but then, to Daryl’s surprise, she scoffed, the corner of her mouth twitching up into the smallest smile for a brief second. “Screw you,” she rasped.

That was progress, Daryl guessed, but she was still looking at him without moving, and Daryl could almost feel her inner turmoil and struggle. He wished there was something that he could say to show her that he was saying the truth, that she could trust him. He was afraid that if he did something else, she’d hide again.

“Okay… I’m gonna leave if that’s what you wanna, just…take the food. I’ll bring you more tomorrow, okay?”

“Why?”

Daryl just shrugged…he didn’t even know himself, but he felt uneasy at the idea of that woman, who looked feral but also hurt, like she’d have gone through hell and back, alone there. Daryl turned around to leave, but then he looked at the woman again, chewing on his lip. “Come with me? It really is safe.”

The woman looked at him, then down, and for a second Daryl let himself have hope, but then she looked at him and shook her head. “Alright…” Daryl let out a sigh and walked back to his bike.

He’d try again the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

On the next morning, Daryl was again at the warehouse doors. He’d tried to think how to make the woman trust him, come back to the prison with him, but he hadn’t come up with anything. Sighing, he knocked on the door.

“Hey…it’s Daryl. I brought you food and water…I’m gonna leave it here and step back, alright?” Daryl left the package of dried meat on the ground next to a bottle of water, and he took a few steps backs, waiting, until finally the door of the warehouse moved.

The woman lifted it up just enough to look outside and check that Daryl was alone and without any weapon aimed at her, and he rushed to hold his empty hands in front of him, unwisely unarmed once again, his knife sheathed on his belt and his crossbow on his bike. Once she was sure, the woman lifted up the door completely. She looked at Daryl with those deep, black eyes that seemed to look deep inside him and then glanced at the food.

“Take it, I go out hunting every day and we also have gardens, we got enough food to spare,” Daryl explained, he didn’t know why. “Same with the water, we pump it inside from the creek outside the prison. If you came with us, you wouldn’t be hungry or thirsty again.”

The woman didn’t say anything, just looked at him again, holding her knife and silent, and Daryl wasn’t surprised. He chewed on his thumbnail, wishing he knew what to do. “You got a name?” He asked her, and there was no reply. “No? So…I’ve been thinking of you as a feral cat so…I’ll call you that, uh?” He half-joked, unsure of how she was going to react.

There was again that scoff but also a smirk, and the same words. “Screw you,” she rasped, and then she shrugged, looking down. “I like cats.”

Daryl thought those were as many words as she’d ever told him and he couldn’t help his small smile. “Cats are okay…I like dogs.”

“Yeah?” The woman frowned at him…she was talking to him, she wasn’t hiding or attacking him…this had to be progress, but Daryl wasn’t sure of how to move forward from that.

“Yeah…why?”

“You look like you like cats.”

Daryl blinked at her, puzzled. “Why?” He asked but the woman just shrugged. “It ain’t that I dislike them…I like them, I just like dogs more.”

“’Cos you never had a cat, then.”

Daryl couldn’t believe that they were really talking…he hoped he wouldn’t screw it up. “Maybe…never had a dog before either…you ain’t the first feral cat I feed, though…” Daryl smirked at the woman, turning into a full smile when she smirked back, still on alert but not as guarded and on edge as she had seemed once, at least she didn’t look like she was about to flee or stab him at any moment, even if she was still holding her knife.

She chewed on her lip and then stepped away from the warehouse and towards the package of food, bending down to pick it and the water. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“It’s…it’s fine, just…come with me?” Daryl tried again. The woman looked at him, then down, seeming torn, but she shook her head softly. Daryl took a deep breath before speaking again. “I know it sounds impossible, but it ain’t. You’ll be safe with us, I promise. You won’t have to hide alone from walkers or people no more, or go hungry. Just come with me. Nobody will hurt you again. I promise.”

Daryl thought that some sort of emotion seemed to reflect on the woman’s eyes, but soon she was looking down, and Daryl was going to give up, when she spoke. “Why?”

“’Cause…’cause you look like you need it. And I can help you…so I wanna.” Daryl shrugged.

“I hurt you,” the woman said, eyes on him, and Daryl hoped that she really didn’t think this was all something that he was doing to get back at her in retaliation or something.

“Yeah…but you were scared, you thought we’d hurt you,” Daryl told her, wishing that he could make her trust him somehow. “I promise this ain’t a trap, just trying to help.”

“In exchange of?”

“Nothing.” Daryl frowned at her. “I don’t want nothing…back at home, we all do stuff, like jobs, we help to keep the place going,” Daryl explained awkwardly. “So, once you’re with us, you can do…I don’t know, anything you are good at, you can take watch or something. But nobody ain’t making you do something you don’t wanna. I promise it’s safe. Come with me.” The woman was looking at him, silent for a long while, and Daryl was about to give up again, defeated, when she nodded.

“Okay.”

“Really?” Daryl couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth when the woman nodded. “Okay…you got something with you? Pick it up and we are leaving, alright?” The woman walked back into the warehouse without a word, and Daryl was afraid that she was not going to come back outside, but she had left the door open and soon she was walking out again, carrying a small, tattered backpack. She glanced at the package of food on the ground.

“Take it with you,” Daryl said, and the woman did so, and then looked at him with those eyes that were wild and guarded, but also scared and sad. “Come on, let’s go,” Daryl told her softly and the woman took a couple of hesitant, slow steps towards him, still looking like she might run away at any moment, still clutching her knife, but Daryl couldn’t see her stabbing him now. “You don’t have to be scared. It’s safe, I promise, nobody is going to hurt you again.”

The woman looked at him hesitantly, but then the smallest, briefest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lip, and Daryl felt some weird emotion at it, as if something had squeezed his heart. He’d made it, he’d gotten her to trust him enough to go with him and she’d be safe. He’d brought into the prison a couple of other people already, and Daryl always liked it, but this time, after worrying at the woman alone there, after how much it took to convince her, Daryl was even more content about it.

She guided the woman towards his bike and then looked at her. “The prison ain’t too far, it’ll be okay.” He swung his leg over the bike, sitting down on it and looking at the woman, who seemed reluctant and unsure, but then she sheathed her knife and hold onto the bike’s seat to swing her leg over it, getting situated behind him. She didn’t hold to him, instead grabbing the metal at the back of the seat, where Daryl carried his crossbow.

“You ready?” Daryl asked looking back at her and the woman seeming still hesitant and nervous, but she nodded, and Daryl kicked the bike into motion.

Daryl didn’t ride fast, he didn’t know if it was the woman’s first ride, and he stopped once they could see the prison. “See…that’s our place. Fences, walls, it’s safe.” He turned to look at the woman, who was glancing at the prison in disbelieve, but she seemed afraid too, and Daryl hoped that she wasn’t thinking about just jumping off and running away. “There’s gonna be people at the door, they’re gonna ask us stuff, but they ain’t gonna hurt you, it’s gonna be alright, okay? Don’t be scared,” Daryl told her softly and the woman still seemed nervous, but she nodded.

Daryl rode to the doors, and the man on guard duty frowned at them. “Daryl, who’s that?”

“She’s…uh…” Daryl looked back at the woman, who once again seemed like she was going to jump off the bike and flee at any moment. Yeah…he couldn’t say to the man that she was feral cat. “She was alone and needed help, I’m bringing her in, it’s alright.”

“Okay.” The man nodded and opened the door, and as always, Daryl was surprised at how much everyone in the prison trusted him and respected him, totally the opposite of how his life had been until not so long, and he couldn’t be more grateful for it.

Daryl rode inside, driving the bike away from the yards and orchards and to where he thought there would be less people around, he didn’t want to parade the woman around, knowing that she was scared and defensive, it could go wrong, and he didn’t want people coming to ask questions. Still, there were people coming and going outside as always, working on this and that, and they looked at them, some with curious eyes, some understanding, others worried, scared even, but Daryl understood. Everyone had their story.

He stopped the bike away from people and turned to look at the woman, who still seemed like she wanted to flee, looking around at everything with wide, scared eyes, and Daryl hoped she wasn’t regretting to have gone with him.

“Here we are,” he told her, and the woman looked at him in a way that brought the image of a feral yet afraid cat to Daryl’s mind again. “It’s okay, don’t be scared. I’ll show you inside, you don’t have to speak with anyone that you don’t wanna.” The woman seemed more than hesitant as she looked at him, and then she looked past him and Daryl could see her getting on edge again. He looked back and saw that Rick was approaching, followed by Carol and Maggie. “Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay,” Daryl rushed to tell to the woman before stepping in front of her.

“What’s this?” Rick asked.

“You know her, the woman we found in the warehouse.”

“Yeah, the one who kicked me on the nuts.” Rick nodded, glancing at her. “What’s she doing here?”

“I went back, talked to her, she changed her mind, decided that she wanted to come here.” Daryl shrugged while Rick kept studying the woman. “You asked the questions, said she could come. So I brought her.”

“We have to talk to her,” Maggie said.

“Not now, she…give her a bit of time, okay?” Daryl told Maggie, hoping that she’d take a look at the woman and understand. “I answer for her.” Maggie seemed hesitant, but then she nodded.

“She’s dangerous,” Carol said.

“No, no…” Well, yeah, she could be for sure, but still… “She’s just afraid…she doesn’t know we ain’t gonna hurt her, she doesn’t know this ain’t a trap.”

“She has to leave that knife,” Carol said and when Daryl looked back, he saw that the woman had grabbed her knife and was clutching it as she stood behind his bike, looking again like she wanted to run away and ready to pounce on any threat.

Daryl approached her, raising his hands in front of him, afraid that he’d managed to get her to come there for nothing. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” he told her softly. “They’re not going to hurt you. Nobody will. But we got people here, people we gotta protect, yeah? So we all have to be careful when new people come in, so we are all safe…you too. You don’t gotta be scared.”

The woman looked at him, then at the others, then back at him, eyes boring into him, seeming so hesitant and on edge, that Daryl wasn’t sure of what she might do, but then she was swallowing hard and sheathing her knife, and Daryl nodded encouragingly at her before looking back at the others.

“Let her keep it, she won’t hurt anyone,” he assured them and he sure hoped that he was right and all his instincts weren’t lying to him on this. “She’s scared of us.”

Rick kept looking at the woman and finally he nodded. “Alright.” He looked back at Carol and Maggie. “It’s okay, Daryl and I will walk her in.”

“You’ll be safe here,” Maggie told to the woman.

“As long as Daryl’s right and you won’t try to hurt anyone,” Carol warned, not one to trust easily, but Daryl looked at her, silently begging her to trust him and not make things more difficult. “Alright…let’s go Maggie.”

As Maggie and Carol walked away, Rick approached Daryl, eyeing the woman before looking at him. “Where do we put her?”

“There’s an empty cell next to mine…” Daryl answered awkwardly, shrugging when Rick arched an eyebrow at him.

“Alright…so you’ll be able to keep an eye on her.”

“We don’t have to, she ain’t gonna hurt anyone, she’s just scared, man, I told you all already.” Daryl rolled his eyes, walking to the woman. “Come with us, okay? Don’t be afraid.” The woman looked at him, still seeming very hesitant and unsure, and almost about to flee, but she nodded, and she followed him and Rick towards the cellblock. Once at the door, though, she stopped, seeming unsure about walking in, and she again looked like she might run away. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Daryl rushed to tell her softly, afraid she might try to flee the prison and get hurt. “No one is going to hurt you here.”

“Daryl is right,” Rick said, noticing the woman hesitance and fear. “If you are not going to hurt us, you don’t have to be scared of us, you’ll be safe here.”

The woman still seemed hesitant but she took a shaky breath and nodded, and she followed them inside, looking around at everything with wild eyes as they walked her towards the cells, and Daryl could almost see all the million thoughts in her head, and he tried to nod reassuringly when she looked at him.

“There we are, your cell,” Rick told her. “Come on, get in, all yours.”

The woman began to shake her head, though, seeming about to run again. “No,” she rasped as she began to backtrack. “No.”

“Hey…hey…” Daryl didn’t know how to calm her down. “Hey, it’s okay.” Daryl tried to think quickly, and something came to his mind. “Look, look.” He reached out and grabbed the door of the cell, opening and closing it a couple of times. “It doesn’t lock, yeah? It’s okay.”

The woman still seemed about to freak out, but she looked at him. “Key,” she muttered and Daryl nodded.

“Yeah…yeah. Rick, get her the key,” Daryl said and Rick raised his eyebrows at him but nodded, going to the office where they kept those. “I promise this is not a trap and you ain’t in danger,” Daryl told to the woman, who said nothing, just keep staring at him with those deep eyes, and Daryl tried his best not to look away as he wanted to.

They both stayed silent until Rick rushed back to them. “Your key,” he told to the woman, giving the key to her. She tried it, locking and unlocking the door, and then looked at Daryl, who nodded reassuringly at her. The woman walked into the cell and closed the door behind her, locking it and checking that it couldn’t be open. Once she seemed content with it, she looked around at the cell, seeming to inspect it even if there wasn’t much but the bunk beds and a small bedside table.

“Well…we’ll leave the introductions for later, yeah?” Rick said and the woman ignored him but Daryl nodded gratefully.

“Yeah, just…let her be today? So she can see that we ain’t gonna hurt her?” Daryl glanced at the woman, who was inspecting the mattress, and back at Rick.

Rick seemed to think it but he nodded. “Alright, no council until tomorrow, but she can leave the cell if she wants, go eat with everyone or just…see more people, if you are with her and make sure she doesn’t try anything.”

“Rick, I told you, she ain’t dangerous for us, she’s just scared.”

“I know…but you too know that we can’t be too cautious, we have to protect our people,” Rick said and Daryl knew, but he still didn’t want to make the woman feel pressed or threatened. “I don’t know how you managed to convince her to come…but good job at it.” Rick seemed still guarded, but he gave Daryl a small smile, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, and Daryl relaxed a bit.

“You need something?” Daryl asked to the woman when Rick left, and she shook her head. “You got food and water, yeah?” He was sure that the woman wasn’t going to want to go eat with everyone else or leave the cell. She nodded, taking out of her backpack the packages of dried meat and the bottle of water, hesitantly leaving it on the small table. “Good…”

Daryl looked at her, unsure of what to do or say, maybe he should leave her alone. The woman sat down on the mattress, still looking around the cell. “Want some sheets or something for the bed? I can get you some.” They had a stack of those in the laundry room, he thought. “I’ll get you some.” Daryl decided when the woman just shrugged. “I’ll be back soon, don’t be afraid, okay? Nobody is gonna hurt you and you got the only key to the cell.”

The woman didn’t say anything, and Daryl went to the laundry room to find her some bedding. People came to ask him about the new woman, and Daryl tried to be patient, tried not to snap much at them, trying to explain to them that she needed space to feel safe, without lashing out much at them much on the process…he thought he managed, most of the time at least, people seemed to get it, and one woman even gave him some spare clothes for feral cat

The woman seemed to hear his footsteps approaching, because she was ready with her knife at the other side of the door when Daryl came into view, but she lowered it when she saw it was him. “Hey, it’s okay, told you nobody is going to hurt you,” Daryl told her. “But you can’t grab the knife every time someone comes or you are gonna scare them, alright?” Daryl thought that more or less everyone would understand her reaction, but he didn’t want to risk anyone thinking of her as a dangerous threat to the prison’s safety.

The woman didn’t say anything and Daryl handled her the bundle of clothes through the cell bars. She took it and left it on the bed, inspecting it. “Got you sheets and also clothes, if you wanna.” Still not a word. “Do you need something more?” Daryl thought that the woman wasn’t going to say anything, but she did.

“Said you have a supply of water?”

“Yeah, yeah, we do.” He nodded. “So you can go ahead and drink it all, I’ll bring you more.”

“Thanks,” the woman muttered, and then she began lifting up her shirt. It took Daryl a second to realize that she was undressing and he turned away quickly, blushing. At least that meant that she liked the clothes, he guessed.

“I, uh…I…” Daryl babbled, flustered. “I’ll leave you alone but…my cell is right next to yours so…if you need anything just…uh…just call me…” Daryl walked to his cell but he didn’t walk in, finally deciding to just sit at the outside of it, back against the wall that separated his cell from the woman’s, hoping that that way he could hear more easily if she needs something, and see if someone else was approaching the cells and risking to startle the feral cat.

Suddenly, there was a ripping sound from the woman’s cell and Daryl frowned, glancing inside. She had taken off her clothes and Daryl saw more old wounds and scars across her dark skin, like he had noticed on her face and neck before, and once again he wondered what that woman had gone through. He was glad that she was safe now. She seemed to have ripped a piece of fabric from one of the sheets and was pouring water from the bottle into it before brushing it across her arms, washing herself.

“We uh…” Daryl looked away again quick. “We got showers…if you wanna…not real showers, but, yeah, work like…there ain’t too cold…”

“No,” the woman said and Daryl didn’t press it.

“Alright…uh…most people, they uh, they got curtains on their cells, for privacy and uh…it blocks the light if you wanna sleep or whatever…” He explained awkwardly. “They’re just sheets or blankets, or any piece of fabric…I could bring you one, you don’t need to use any of your sheets for it…if you wanna…”

The woman didn’t say anything, and Daryl wasn’t sure about leaving her there alone and…and naked, it seemed, though he didn’t check again. Finally, he decided that maybe the woman would feel more protected if she was able to hide from the exterior. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

Daryl went back to the laundry room, once again trying to dodge people’s questions, and back to rummage through the closets in which they stored all pieces of fabric that they found, not only sheets or blankets, and that were used for this and that, some people even sew clothes and stuff with them. He didn’t know which one to pick, but he spotted one that made him smirk. He couldn’t believe his luck. Grabbing the fabric, he rushed back to the woman’s cell.

He peeked shyly inside, but she was dressed now, hand on her knife but without unsheathing it. “Hey,” he called for her. “I got something that I think you’re gonna like.” Daryl unfolded the piece of fabric, showing it to her. It was deep blue in color, with cats’ silhouettes in silver. The woman looked at it and then at Daryl, the corner of her mouth tugging into a tiny, brief smile, and Daryl couldn’t help his own. “I’ll help you hang it, alright?” He said as he passed the fabric to the woman and helped her to fix it on the door like a curtain.

Once he finished, the view to the inside of the cell was blocked, and Daryl thought that the woman would retreat inside, but she tugged the new kitten curtain open slightly and looked at him. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“Ain’t nothing…” Daryl shrugged. “Give me your bottle of water, I’ll refill it.” The curtain fell over the door until the woman tugged it open again. She unlocked the door and opened it just enough to hand him her empty bottle of water, and Daryl took it.

“Dana,” the woman said before Daryl could leave. “My name.”

“Dana…” Daryl repeated, a smile tugging at his lips, glad that the woman had decided to tell him her name. “So…I ain’t calling you feral cat anymore, then?” He joked softly and the woman smirked.

“I like that too.” She shrugged.

“Alright…” Daryl couldn’t help his smile. “I’m gonna bring you some more water, cat, just wait a second.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the feral cat went to the prison! Even if she didn’t seem to trust anyone but Daryl.
> 
> Thank you all for the support, it really keeps me posting. If you enjoyed this and have a moment, please let me know your thoughts.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.


	3. Chapter 3

“Cat?” Daryl called for Dana at the outside of her cell. “Brought you breakfast.”

He had brought her dinner last night too, knowing that she wouldn’t want to go eat with everyone else. He had asked just in case, but Dana hadn’t said anything, and when he’d also told her that he could take her to their doctor to check her, Dana had shook her head, and so Daryl had let her be, she didn’t seem hurt despite her old wounds.

Daryl had passed Dana her dinner through the half open door of the cell and then he had sat down at the outside of it with his own dinner in silence, he sill hadn’t wanted to press the woman with questions. It didn’t seem that Dana had minded his presence, though, she had kept the curtain open and sat down at the other side of the door too, looking at him as she ate, studying it almost, and Daryl had tried his best not to feel nervous and self-conscious.

Dana had kept herself in her cell, hadn’t talked to anyone, but Daryl knew that at least, he needed to have her talk to the council today, or else they’d come to talk to her eventually and she might feel more threatened. Besides, she couldn’t be always locked inside a cell.

The curtain of the cell opened, revealing Dana looking at him, and she knotted the curtain to a bar so it wouldn’t fall onto the door again. “Thanks,” she murmured, opening the door a bit and reaching out to take the bowl of oatmeal, and she went to sit down on the unmade bed.

“You don’t wanna get out of the cell? I can show you around, no one will hurt you,” Daryl told her and Dana didn’t say anything. Daryl let out a sigh. “Hey, cat…I’m gonna need you to speak to the council, okay?” Dana looked at him at that. She had seemed more or less at ease with him, but now Daryl could see in her eyes again that suspicion and fear. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to be afraid, they’re good people, alright?” He tried to assure her. “They just want to talk to you about this place, how it works, just…I know you ain’t dangerous for us, but they need to know too. We got a lot of people we have to take care of. But you don’t gotta be scared of them. I need you to talk to them, please?”

Dana looked at him, then down, swallowing hard, and then back at him. She took a deep breath and finally nodded.

“Alright, alright, good.” Daryl nodded encouragingly. “I’m gonna talk to them and then I’ll come back for you, okay?” Dana didn’t say anything but her eyes seemed anxious. “You ain’t gonna run away…right?” He asked half-joking, but in truth, he was a bit afraid of it. The woman shook her head in silence. “Okay…you better not, I don’t want you getting into trouble.” If someone saw her running away, they might get the wrong impression. “Don’t worry, kitten, nobody is gonna hurt you.”

“Kitten?” Dana said and Daryl frowned at her.

“What?”

“You said kitten.” She was looking at him in a way that Daryl had never seen before on her, like she was amused, and Daryl realized that the word might have slipped, he hadn’t even realized it, and he blushed up to his ears, feeling like an idiot.

“You ain’t no kitten,” Daryl said, flustered. “Kittens don’t bite like this.” He nodded towards his arm. “Feral cats do.”

“You said it.” Dana shrugged and Daryl somehow felt even more embarrassed.

“I…uh…I’m gonna talk to the council, I’ll come back for you,” he said before rushing away.

*

After talking to the council, Daryl made his way back to Dana’s cell. He’d tried to convince the others to not overwhelm her with questions, to not ask about herself if she didn’t talk on her own, because he thought something might have happened to her, that she must have been mistreated by someone, and it was obvious that she was still on edge. He thought the others had agreed with him, they didn’t want to scare her or seem threatening, but they had to make sure that she was not a threat for everyone else.

Once he went back for Dana, she had seemed hesitant, but she had taken a deep breath and unlocked the cell, following Daryl, and so now he was guiding her towards the room that the council used for meetings. Suddenly, Beth seemed to come out of nowhere, smiling at them, and Daryl rushed to step in front of Dana.

“Hi! I’m Beth, it’s good to meet you finally, Daryl wouldn’t let us go greet you.” Beth chuckled.

“Beth, let her be,” Daryl warned, but looking back at Dana, she seemed startled but not scared, and Daryl guessed that Beth looked non-threatening enough.

“Alright, alright…” Beth grinned at Dana. “If you are tired of that cell and want to come talk, I’m going to be watching over the kids at the library.” With a last smile, Beth finally walked away.

“Kids?” Dana asked to Daryl, frowning.

“Yeah, we got a few,” Daryl said. “More reasons why we have to be careful when we bring in new people.” Dana nodded at that, understanding, and they kept going, stopping in front of the door of the council. “Are you ready? Don’t be scared, I promise it will be fine.” Dana looked at him and then at the door. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

Daryl walked in first, making sure to stay slightly in front of Dana. Everyone was sitting down already, and all eyes went to them. “So…” Daryl tried to push past his awkwardness. “You know Rick already, and Carol and Maggie. Those are Glenn, Hershel, our doctor, and Sasha.” And himself…Daryl still didn’t know why they had asked him to be part of the council.

“Welcome, Dana,” Hershel greeted, smiling at Dana, who looked again like she wanted to flee. “You don’t have to be scared of us.”

“I take Daryl has made sure you have everything you need?” Rick asked, giving Daryl a teasing look and Daryl scoffed, but Dana nodded. “Good…you still think that we are going to kill you?” Daryl wanted to kick Rick for being so blunt even if joking, but Dana just shrugged and Rick smiled. “I get it…but you really are safe here, nobody will hurt you.” Dana didn’t say anything and so Rick kept talking. “When I asked you how many people had you killed, you said several, you said for survival and vengeance…”

“Rick…” Daryl warned him, noticing Dana tensing, he’d told them not to ask about that, he was sure that Dana wouldn’t react well to that, and after seeing her old wound and scars, he wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to remember or talk about it.

“I know what’s that, to kill to survive, to stop people trying to hurt you and your people, we don’t like it but we have to do it,” Rick kept going. “It was the same in your case, I guess…can you tell us about it?”

Dana began shaking her head no quick, breathing hard, and before Daryl could say anything, she was rushing outside the room, and Daryl followed her quick.

“Hey, hey, Dana, wait, wait,” he called for her, trying to stop her from running away. She stopped, looking at him, breathing hard, but she looked like she could flee at any moment. “It’s okay, cat, hey, it’s okay,” Daryl tried to reassure her, even if he didn’t know how. “You don’t have to talk about that, it’s okay. They won’t ask again, I promise. I’m sorry they did…come back inside with me, please?” He asked her softly and Dana seemed unsure, scared eyes looking around before looking at him again, swallowing hard. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. Let’s finish this and I’ll take you back to your cell.”

Dana still seemed more than hesitant but finally she took a deep breath and nodded. Before knowing what he was doing, Daryl reached out to squeeze Dana’s shoulder. When he realized it, he thought he might just have scared her more, but even though she flinched a bit at first, she gave him that tiny, brief smile, and she followed him inside the room.

“I’m sorry, Dana, I really didn’t mean to upset you,” Rick said.

“Yeah, well, you did,” Daryl grumbled, glaring at everyone.

“I’m sorry…but we understand, we all have blood in our hands here, from people that threatened us, that wanted to kill us,” Rick kept going. “We didn’t want to do it, but we had to. So we get it, we know how it is, what sometimes you have to do to survive.” Dana was looking down, breathing hard, but then she nodded.

“You are welcome here, I know we still don’t know each other, but we don’t think that you are a threat…and I know you still don’t trust us, we understand that too.” Maggie gave Dana a small, reassuring small. “But once we get to know each other a bit more and you get used to our home…I think you’ll be able to see how good this can be, and if you want to contribute, you are more than welcome, we all need each other to survive, we all have jobs here. “ Maggie explained. “Glenn and I organize runs, and everyone who can fight is welcome to help on those.”

“After watching you fight, I think you could be really useful on those,” Rick said, and Dana just shrugged, looking down. “Sasha is in charge of lookouts, we have schedules for those, also for the doors, also the walls and putting down the walkers behind those, we don’t want them getting too many and throwing down the fences.”

“I’m not sure I trust her putting down walkers next to someone with a pike,” Sasha said…not one to trust people, like Carol, but it annoyed Daryl.

“She ain’t gonna hurt anyone!” He snapped.

“There are also the gardens and orchards,” Maggie said before neither him nor Sasha could say anything else. “Cooking, laundry, cleaning, inventory…and a million other things that I can’t think about now. So if you feel like there’s something specific that you want to do, tell us and we’ll include you in the schedule. But for now, just take it slow as you get used to all these, take your time, and then come to talk to me about it if you want, okay?”

They all looked at Dana, who wasn’t saying anything, but then she nodded at Daryl. “Him?”

“Daryl is our hunter and also goes on runs,” Rick told her.

“With him,” Dana said quietly and Daryl looked at her, wondering if being around him really made her feel more at ease and less threatened. The idea made him feel grateful, and warm, and…weird.

“Daryl hunts alone,” Carol said.

“She can come with me if she wanna.” Daryl shrugged shyly.

“Can you hunt?” Rick asked to Dana who looked down in silence. “Why don’t you help me and my kid at the orchard? More hands are always welcome.” Dana didn’t say anything but looked at Daryl.

“I can take her with me,” Daryl said, couldn’t stop himself with her looking at him like that. “We can patrol the woods near the prison while I hunt, see if there’s people or walkers in the woods or coming, we had already talked about that once, about setting a perimeter around the prison,” he told Rick. “We also can…dunno, collect whatever plants you want now or anything you want from the woods…I’m gonna be out hunting there anyway, so…” He shrugged, saying the first things that came to his mind. “And you are always saying what if I run into walkers alone while hunting, like if I couldn’t put them down by myself,” he scoffed. “So…she can watch my back.”

“He’s always snapping when someone mentions him going outside alone but now he’s going to take the new girl who we don’t know anything about to watch his back,” Sasha murmured and Daryl glared at her, flustered.

“We already have the lookouts to see if something is approaching but…okay.” Rick nodded and Daryl hoped that he could see how Dana felt reluctant to be with someone else, still scared, but maybe soon she’d feel better and then she would decide to work on something else…Daryl wasn’t sure how he felt about it, though. “We have enough walkers coming to push at the fences all the time, if you can see a group of them coming from the woods it’ll be good to know in advance, just don’t go for them yourselves and be careful, alright?”

“You’re always saying the same every time I go out hunting.” Daryl rolled his eyes but in truth, he was grateful that Rick and everyone else cared for him the way they did, it was something that he hadn’t felt before. He did care for them too. “We ain’t gonna jump on a herd by ourselves.”

“Yeah? I don’t know, she looks like she might,” Rick said, but Daryl could see that he was joking and he hoped that Dana could too. “And you aren’t the most sensible person here.” Daryl scoffed, but couldn’t stop his smirk. “Alright…that sounds good to you?” Rick asked to Dana, who nodded in silence.

“As long as you don’t come back without having hunted anything.” Carol shrugged.

“I won’t, you should know it already.” Daryl rolled his eyes.

“It’s settled then.” Rick nodded.

“That’s all?” Daryl asked and Rick nodded. “Alright…we’ll be leaving for hunting and patrol tomorrow, we’re good enough in food for today.”

“Welcome here, Dana, we’ll see you around,” Glenn smiled. “We’ll let you know when we plan a run to see if you want to come.”

“Let us know if you need something,” Maggie added.

*

Once in her cell, Dana locked the door and went to sit down on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and she looked at him in silence, at the other side of the door.

“Are you okay?” He asked her softly, and she shrugged but nodded. “It wasn’t that scary, yeah?” He half-joked. “Those people? I promise they’re good people, they’re my family. You’re one of us too now, you’re gonna be safe here. You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t wanna, alright?” Dana nodded, looking down in silence.

Daryl didn’t know what to do or say and he just looked at her in silence for a while, until he heard footsteps on the corridor.

Looking to the side, Daryl saw Rick approaching, and he rushed to meet him before he reached the cell. “She talked to the council already.”

“I know, I know.” Rick gave him an amused smile. “Beth was right, you’re a guard dog now.” Rick chuckled and Daryl scoffed, looking down shyly.

“Yeah, well, she’s scared and you all ain’t making it better, told you not to ask her…” He grumbled.

“I know, I came to talk to you about that.” Rick nodded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to upset, but if there’s a threat, we have to know.”

“She ain’t no threat!”Daryl snapped.

“I know, I don’t think she’s a threat to us, I hope we’re right,” Rick said. “But whoever she killed, if they were from a group, if they’re dangerous and maybe near the warehouse where we found her, we have to now, it’s not that far.”

Daryl hummed, frowning. Rick was right on that, but he didn’t know how to ask Dana. “I don’t know…I think she might have ended them all, of that she comes from far away.” That was the impression he got. “Whoever they were…I think they abused her, tortured her, or something, she’s all marked.” Daryl felt his blood boil at the thought. “You’ve seen her, she’s traumatized and scared.” They couldn’t expect her to just open up and trust them as nothing.

“Yeah…” Rick nodded. “I’m not blind, I know she’s gone through shit. I told you, you did well, getting her to trust you, bringing her here. You’re good at that, at recognizing good people that need help and bringing them to safety.” Rick squeezed his shoulder and Daryl shrugged, looking down shyly, feeling like an idiot when he realized he was getting emotional. “I don’t think it’s good for her that she’s all the time in a cell.”

“Yeah…” Daryl agreed, but he didn’t know how to tell feral cat that.

“Why don’t you show her around, she hasn’t seen anything yet, she doesn’t know anyone. The more she stays hidden, the more intrigued people is going to be,” Rick said. “Show her where’s everything, maybe take her to the yard so she can get some air? She hasn’t left that cell in almost two days.”

“I can try…” Daryl said, unsure of how she was going to take it.

“Okay…also you might consider to stop staying all day sat down outside her cell like a guard dog looking at her, I know you mean well but it’s getting weird,” Rick joked, chuckling, and Daryl scoffed, flustered.

“Don’t you have nothing useful to do besides bothering me?” He grumbled and Rick just chuckled more.

“Not half as fun…but yes, I’m going to get Carl and we’ll be working on the gardens, the tomatoes are looking good, you can bring Dana to see the gardens if she wants to, maybe she’ll like it? I don’t know.”

“I’ll tell her…” Daryl shrugged, he had no idea of what Dana might like, what might make her feel more at ease and trust them and the place.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

Rick walked away and Daryl walked back to Dana’s cell, who looked at him when she noticed him. “Hey, cat…why I don’t show you the place? You don’t know it yet,” he told her and Dana didn’t say anything. “You don’t need to see anyone or talk to anyone.” She still didn’t say anything, just looked at him. “Come on, you can’t be all the time in a cell like if we had you captive, yeah?”

Dana shrugged but finally she nodded, and she opened the door of the cell, getting out and walking with him. Daryl decided to show her the inside of the prison before taking her to the yards, and he toured her around awkwardly while he showed her the important places , he’d never showed anyone around before and he felt a bit silly. On her side, Dana seemed to look at everything around her, seeming amazed and still nervous and anxious.

People looked at them, some waved and smiled, but Daryl was glad that nobody approached them to try to speak with Dana if she didn’t approach first, giving her space, though he wondered if she’d go to speak to any of them by her own will at some point, or if she’d just rather keep staying in her cell…Daryl didn’t know how to go about that or help with it.

“And that’s the library.” Daryl pointed at it. “Sometimes the kids are there reading books, or learning stuff…” Honestly, he wasn’t very sure of what they did, some old world homework but he thought that Carol trained them to protect themselves too. They kept walking until Daryl stopped in front of some other rooms. “So, this is the food inventory, if you want to eat something just come here and ask whoever is doing inventory that day, then that’s the kitchen, and we eat there.” He pointed at the big cafeteria room. “Or outside at the yard, depends on the weather. Some people eat together but you don’t have to, I don’t eat here half of the time.” He shrugged. “I think Carol maybe is at the kitchen now, I ain’t sure…”

“She doesn’t like me,” Dana murmured.

“Nah, nah, it ain’t that…she just…she ain’t one to trust easily, yeah, but she will,” Daryl tried to assure her and Dana shrugged.

Next, Daryl took her outside. There were more people there, but most were working on something. A couple was just sat down on the picnic tables, and they waved at them. Daryl waved awkwardly back, still not used to everyone always greeting him and even stopping him to talk to him.

“So…you see those walkers?” He pointed at the fence and the people stabbing walkers through it. “We take shifts to clear them, they push at the fence all the time, and if they’re too many they’ll throw it down, we can’t let walkers get in here,” he explained and Dana nodded. “Once a day, when it’s clearer, Rick takes the pickup and gets all the bodies, takes them to the woods to burn, sometimes I go with him, sometimes Tyreese, he’s Sasha’s brother…”

“Those are all the watchtowers, there’s always someone on them taking watch, we got sniper rifles.” Daryl pointed at them, feeling a bit awkward and stupid, it wasn’t like Dana couldn’t see them by herself. “Sasha’s almost always on one of those.”

“Hates me…” Dana muttered.

“Nah, nah, she doesn’t,” Daryl assured. “Just give her time to trust you.” From the nearer watchtower, Maggie and Glenn waved at them. “Yeah, besides runs, Maggie and Glenn spent a lot of time in the watchtower too…think they use it to be alone away from everyone.” Daryl scoffed, smiling when he noticed Dana’s tiny smirk.

“And those are the gardens and all that, we got a lot of crops,” Daryl explained, and there were also pots with plants everywhere lately. “Hershel was a farmer before, so yeah, that’s good.” Some people were working on the orchard, including Rick and Carl, and Daryl nodded towards them. “That’s Carl, he’s Rick’s kid, he’s a great kid.”

As they kept walking, now towards the gates, one of the doors of a cellblock opened and Beth walked outside carrying Judith, and she smiled and waved at them.

“A baby…” Dana said and Daryl was not surprised that she sounded shocked.

“Yeah, Judith, she’s Rick’s too, she’s wonderful,” Daryl said, unable to stop his smile as she looked at the baby. “See, we got a lot of people here that we gotta protect, that’s why people is suspicious and worried when someone new comes.” Dana nodded, understanding. “They’ll get used to you soon.” He hoped that Dana got used to them too, that she bonded with more people and were happy, though he wasn’t minding to have her around, and he wasn’t looking forward to be replaced, if he was honest, surprisingly or not. “We got animals too, we built them stuff, we got pigs and horses, wanna see them?” Dana nodded eagerly.

“Rider coming!” One of the watchtowers announced before they could go anywhere. “It’s Michonne!”

Dana looked at him, seeming worried, but Daryl couldn’t help his smile. Michonne had been away for a few days by now. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to be scared, she’s Michonne, she’s a good friend,” he explained. “She comes and goes, has been away for a while.”

They could already see her riding the way to the prison, swinging her katana and beheading every walker around her while she rode as if they were nothing. The doors opened for her and she rode towards their makeshift stables.

“Hey, cat, can we go to the stables so I can see Michonne and you can see the horses?” Daryl asked softly. “It’s really okay if you don’t wanna, alright?” Dana looked at down and then at him, nodding. “You sure?” She nodded again. “Alright, thank you.”

Michonne was getting the horse inside the stable when they reached it, and she grinned, looking at him. “Hey!” She greeted, reaching out to hug him, and Daryl still felt awkward and stiff at it, but he was getting used to it, and he hugged her back. “Everything okay here?”

“Yeah, everything good, and you?”

“Okay…I brought some stuff.” Michonne nudged her bag and then rummaged inside. “This is for you.” She handed him an old motorbike magazine and Daryl couldn’t believe that she had found something like that.

“Where you found this?” He said as he went through the pages.

“Old cabin, you should go someday, there was an old bike at the yard,” Michonne explained. “Very old, looked about to fall down into dust, but I thought on you, maybe you could save some pieces? It was all rusty, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I can try, thanks.” Daryl smiled, feeling like just riding to that cabin full speed already.

“There’s no rush.” Michonne chuckled as if reading his mind. “I’m telling you, it was about to drop into rusty, broken pieces, nobody is going to take it.” Daryl shrugged, you never knew. Dana had stayed slightly away but not she walked closer, guarded, and stayed behind him as she looked at Michonne. “Hey, who’s that.”

“She’s Dana, she needed help so I brought her here,” Daryl explained.

Michonne looked at Dana, probably noticing the old wounds on her face, the scars, and those distrustful, scared eyed. She looked at Daryl, nodding, before looking at Dana again, giving her a small smile. “Welcome here, Dana, I’m Michonne. You’re going to be fine in here.”

Dana didn’t say anything, and so Daryl spoke. “We were coming to see the horses.”

“Okay, I’m going to greet Rick, I have stuff for him and Carl, are they at the orchard?” Michonne asked and Daryl nodded. “Alright, see you both around.”

“So…” Daryl looked at Dana while Michonne walked away. “Those are our pigs.” He waved at the pen where the pigs were lying and rolling on the mud. “And these are the horses.” Dana walked to them, reaching out to stroke the snout of one and she smiled, really smiled. Daryl couldn’t help his own looking at her.

“Michonne,” Dana said. “Family?”

“Yes, yes, she’s family now.” Daryl nodded. “She’s a good woman, one of the best, you can trust her.”

Dana nodded. “I like her.”

“Yeah?” Daryl smiled, more than glad of it, and Dana nodded. While she kept petting the horse, Daryl kept thinking about something. “Hey, cat…you’re safe here, you’re going to be fine here, but if you don’t wanna be in here all the time, if you really don’t like it…you can go out with Michonne, you’ll have a place to come back and you’ll be safe with Michonne.” Not as safe as inside the prison, not as safe as Daryl’d want, but he didn’t want her to be in there if she didn’t want to.

Dana shook her head, frowning at him. “With you…don’t want me with you?”

“What, no, no, it ain’t that!” Daryl rushed to say. “Just…thought maybe you didn’t want to…I don’t know, to be here…but…yeah, I want…I…” Daryl stumbled over his words, flustered. “We’re going to hunt and patrol together yeah? If you want to, if you don’t wanna it’s okay, really…” He shrugged, looking down bashfully.

“I want to.”

“Okay, okay, good.” Daryl smiled and Dana gave him that tiny, brief half-smile. “Hey, you don’t want to see the gardens? Michonne is going to be there, and Rick too, he was saying something about some tomatoes, wanna check them?” He was still lost about what Dana might like, what she might enjoy in there, but most people seemed to like the gardens. Dana seemed to think it and then she nodded. “Alright, come on then.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter…Dana was introduced to the council and around the prison, though she still seems only on ease around Daryl, and it was decided that she’d be hunting and patrolling with him

Daryl was walking through the woods, followed by Dana, who walked silently ,“like a cat”, Daryl had awkwardly joked. It was good that she was able to walk in silence and that it came naturally to her, that way she wouldn’t scare the game. Daryl already had a squirrel hanging from his belt, and was now tracking what he was sure was a rabbit. “Went that way…” He muttered.

“How?” Dana said.

“What?”

“How you know it.”

Daryl looked at her, back at the track and then at Dana again. If he stopped to point at her what was he following and how, the rabbit might go away…but he decided to do it anyway. What was going to be a quick thing, just pointing at Dana what he was seeing, ended up being a longer explanation about the basics of tracking game and hunting…not that Daryl minded it, and it didn’t seem like Dana minded it either, she listened to him with a level of attention that Daryl had barely had anytime before.

Daryl ended up getting a rabbit anyway, and although he was the one doing the tracking, Dana watched and paid attention to everything that he told her and pointed at, seeming in total focus, and Daryl would be lying if he said that he didn’t enjoy it.

“You gotta learn and hunt yourself, uh?” He told her once the rabbit was hanging from his belt. “A cat that can’t hunt makes no sense,” he joked awkwardly and Dana scoffed, but she smirked, and she nudged him with her shoulder. It took Daryl by surprise, and a smile tugged at his lips at seeing her seeming comfortable with him like that, even if it made him feel weird too.

As they patrolled the woods near the prison, Dana spotted a group of edible mushrooms on the ground, tugging at Daryl’s shirt. “Good job, cat,” he said while they picked them up. “We can stew them with the rabbit and the squirrel.” Dana gave him that small smile that always made him smile back and always made his belly do funny things at the idea of her not being that scared and mistrustful anymore. “Let’s go back, alright?” They hadn’t found any threat in the woods, they had gotten a squirrel and a rabbit, and mushrooms, and Dana seemed more at ease…all in all, it had been a good morning.

Some of Dana’s apprehension seemed to be back as they walked into the prison and were around waving people again, but at least she didn’t look like she was about to run away or stab someone if she got scared.

“I’ll show you how to clean and get ready the squirrel and the rabbit, yeah?” Daryl asked and Dana nodded, following him to the kitchen area. Like when he’d been telling her about tracking, Dana watched attentively while he got the pieces ready, and Daryl couldn’t help how it made him nervous, though he tried to control it and to give her some instruction here and there. They had almost finished when Carol walked in.

“You learned to hunt already?” She asked to Dana and Daryl didn’t know if she was joking, but he scoffed.

“She ain’t gonna learn in a day, but she will.” He was sure of it. “But she hunted some mushrooms.”

“Good.” Carol scoffed, but she nodded looking at everything that they had lied out on the kitchen. “We can make a good stew out of this.” She looked at Dana, who seemed guarded again. “I know it’s comfortable if Daryl brings you dinner again, but why don’t you come down to get your own this night? We actually won’t bite you…” She said as she glanced at the bite mark on Daryl’s arm, who rolled his eyes.

“Let’s finish this…” He muttered, back to cleaning the rabbit.

That evening, the dinner was getting served and Daryl was about to go get two bowls, one for himself and another for Dana, when he saw her walking down the stairs to the cafeteria area, looking around and seeming like she might run away and retreat, but she nodded at the people who waved at her, and made her way to the queue for the food. Daryl smiled at her, nodding encouragingly, and she gave him that brief, tiny smile, even if she seemed anxious.

Once she had her food, Dana looked at the table where Michonne, Rick, Glenn and Maggie were sat down, but finally she rushed away and up the stairs towards the cells. It was progress, though. Daryl noticed Rick looking at him and nodding with a small smile, he’d seen Dana too. Taking his bowl, Daryl went to sit down with them, Michonne was probably leaving in the morning and he wanted to talk to her before, but he rushed through his stew to go see Dana once he was finished.

Once in front of her cell, though, he didn’t know what to say. “You did well” he finally murmured awkwardly and Dana just shrugged, seeming awkward too. “Give me your bowl, I’ll wash it.”

“Don’t have to,” Dana muttered.

“I know, but I’m going to.” Daryl shrugged.

“Thanks…” Dana said, handing him the bowl.

“Ain’t nothing…I’ll see you in the morning, alright? Maybe we’ll find a deer tomorrow,” he said content when Dana gave him that small smile. “So, get some rest.”

*

The next couple of days, Daryl kept taking Dana hunting and patrolling with him, pointing trails to her, showing her how to track and hunt, and she kept listening attentively to all he had to show her, and so Daryl was confident that she’d be able to eventually track by herself. It’d be good to have another tracker and hunter, in case something happened to him, Michonne was not bad at tracking, but with her coming and going all the time, it’d be good that someone else learned to track too. Daryl had told Rick a couple of times, but even if he wanted to, he’d always been too busy first leading then with the gardens and whatnot.

Dana, though, seemed to give him her undivided attention now while they tracked and hunted, and also once they were back inside the prison and he showed her how to clean and cut his kills, letting her do it too.

Dana seemed a bit more at ease at the prison, and although sometimes she seemed anxious, she didn’t seem to think that someone would attack her there anymore or that she was unsafe, but she still spent most of the time around Daryl…for how much he’d thought he wanted his time alone, he still found that he didn’t mind to have her around, most of the time he didn’t even notice her, just a silent presence near him, and if it helped her to feel better, he wasn’t going to complain.

When she wasn’t with him, she was usually locked in her cell, reading a book that Beth had given her. She still didn’t really talk to anyone else, but she seemed less startled and on edge around people, even waving or nodding awkwardly back when they greeted her. She was adapting to the prison and Daryl was glad of it. He hoped that she’d open up to more people too, the more people she bonded with the better, so she wouldn’t rely only on him, in case anything happened and he couldn’t be around her.

Daryl was now looking for Dana, after talking with Rick. Since Michonne had told him about that old bike she’d found, he’d been itching to go get it, even if Michonne thought that there was no need to rush. She had marked the place on a map for him before leaving the day before, and it wasn’t too far, he was surprised that they hadn’t stumbled onto it before, so he wanted to go. He’d told Rick, who said that it was okay, and now he wanted to tell Dana, they wouldn’t be going hunting tomorrow. He wondered what she might get up to in the prison without him there, and he hoped that she’d be okay.

She wasn’t in her cell and so Daryl went to the stables, finding her there, stroking the horses. “You know, you could help with the horses,” he told her, he’d realized that she liked them. “Feeding them and all that, you just have to tell Hershel.”

“No hunting?” She said.

“Yeah, we’d still hunt, but you can help once we’re back at the afternoons, if you wanna.” Daryl shrugged, he usually had stuff to do and Dana had been trailing alongside him, but maybe she’d enjoy more to help with the horses.

“Maybe.” She shrugged and went back to stroking the horse’s snout.

“I gotta talk to you, cat,” Daryl told her and she frowned at him, seeming worried. “I wanna go out tomorrow to find a bike in a cabin that Michonne told me about, so we won’t go hunting, okay?”

“I go with you?” She asked him.

“Uh…do you want to?” Daryl asked, wondering why he hadn’t thought about it, and Dana nodded. “Are you sure? You’ll be okay in here without me, really, nobody will hurt you.” He thought she knew, but he assured it to her again, he didn’t want her to feel like she had to be around him all the time.

“I want to go,” she said.

“Alright…” Daryl wouldn’t mind to take her with him, maybe they could even track something. “I don’t want us staying the night outside, so we leave before the sunrise, okay?” If it were him alone, he wouldn’t mind that much, but he didn’t want to risk it if he was taking Dana too, when there was no need to camp outside, the place was close enough for them to be able to come back and spend the night behind fences. Dana nodded, giving him that tiny smile.

*

Early the next morning, when the sky was just starting to clear, Daryl drove away from the prison. He was taking their pick up, he’d rather ride, but he might need to carry bike parts or the whole thing. Dana was sat down next to him, looking through the window, and Daryl peeked at her while he drove.

She looked so much better than just a few days ago, less terrified and wild, less on edge. A couple of days ago, she had chopped off a good chunk of her wild, dark curls with her knife before Daryl realized it and could offer to get her some scissors, she was probably frustrated at the knots and tangles. The shorter hair suited her, Daryl found himself thinking.

She still hadn’t wanted to go to the showers, but Daryl knew that now that Dana knew that they had a stable source of water from the creek, she washed herself with her bottle and a rag, locked in her cell. Daryl had seen her once, by accident, he hadn’t meant too, and he had quickly looked away and retreated, but he had noticed the marks and old wounds in her dark skin again, and the way in which she washed herself without closing the curtain, looking outside for any incoming threat, even if the cell was locked, one hand holding the wet rag while the other held a knife. Daryl couldn’t help but wonder what had she gone through, feeling angry at it, but he never asked, not wanting to prey and upset her.

They drove through the same road for a while, until eventually Daryl had to leave the road and drive through a path to the woods until even that ended, but he kept driving until the trees blocked the way. “Alright, we’ll walk from here,” he told to Dana. “It can’t be far.”

Dana nodded and got out of the car, following him in silence through the woods as he followed Michonne’s indications. At some point, though, she tugged at his shirt and when Daryl looked at her, she pointed at a squirrel up in a tree branch.

“Good catch,” Daryl whispered to her before shooting, he’d been too busy trying to find the way to see it, but as always, Dana was looking attentively at everything around her, and she always seemed to notice the tiniest details…no wonder she was a survivor, and she was picking up on how to track fast.

Daryl had been thinking about getting a hunting rifle with a silencer for her for when they went out, though for what he could gather from the few words that Dana said when he told her, she seemed to prefer her knife and wasn’t too used to shooting even if she could do it, but she couldn’t hunt just with a knife, and she’d be safer with a rifle too, maybe he should have gotten her a rifle anyway for today instead of letting her go just with her knife, but there didn’t seem to be walkers around and he was with her.

Eventually, they found the cabin, a tiny, tattered place hidden among the trees, overgrown with plants, and Daryl wondered how Michonne had stumbled into it. As they got closer, he spotted the bike lying on the ground, half-covered by plants too. Daryl knelt down next to it, carefully trying to lift it, afraid that it’d break down or even turn into dust just by touching it.

It was an old bike, vintage they’d say, and as Michonne had said, it was in very poor condition, it seemed to have been abandoned even before walkers were a thing. “You could have gotten good money for a bike like this before the world ended…” Daryl murmured, though if the bike had been his, he’d have kept it on point and wouldn’t have sold it to any collector no matter he needed the money.

“World didn’t end,” Dana said and Daryl looked at her. “Just changed.” She shrugged and Daryl guessed that she was right. The idea that the world ended had been a sentence he’d picked up from someone else, but yeah…Dana was right, it hadn’t ended, the world was still there, they were still there, it had just changed. And sometimes, sometimes, Daryl found himself wondering if actually his life wasn’t better now…he knew it was crazy, but maybe he could tell Dana someday, see what she thought…

Daryl focused his attention back to the bike. He’d check if there were pieces that he could use for something else, or if maybe he could actually save the whole bike, or enough stuff to take it whole to the prison…he thought that getting it going would probably be impossible, but he wanted to try anyway.

“Cabin?” Dana asked.

“Michonne was here already and checked it,” Daryl told her but Dana walked towards it, looking at everything around. “Don’t go far alright? Come back if there are walkers around.” Daryl went back to tinker with the bike. It looked worse at first glance than once he began to check it, and he was getting confident on being able to save more pieces than he thought at first.

Suddenly, though, he heard a noise and he looked up from the bike. “Cat?” He called for Dana when he didn’t see her around, and before he could worry that for some reason she’d actually decided to run away and leave him and the prison, Daryl was sure that he heard the growl a walker not too far. “Dana?!”

Daryl ran towards where he thought the noises were coming from and he found Dana fighting a group of walkers with her knife. There were two already dead on the ground, and she was viciously sinking the knife into the head of another, before grabbing the closer one to do the same. Daryl didn’t lose time to shoot a bolt to another before it got closer to Dana, and she turned towards him when she noticed the walker falling down, seeing him there before she grabbed the remaining walker and put it down too.

When she had turned towards him, Daryl had noticed blood on her shirt, her arms, and her face, and he couldn’t help but straight up panic. “Are you hurt?! Are you bitten?!” He asked as he rushed towards her, grabbing her arm to try and check her but Dana flinched her arm away.

She didn’t seem bitten or hurt and Daryl noticed that one of the walkers on the ground was all bloodied up and with its insides hanging out, and he realized that Dana must have gotten covered in its blood when she held it to stab it and maybe then touched her face with her bloodied hands. Somehow, it didn’t help to calm him down.

“The hell were you thinking?! Going for them alone?! They could have bitten you! Could have killed you!” Daryl hadn’t meant to yell, but he couldn’t stop himself, agitated and scared, even if he knew he was all the time doing the same, putting down small groups of walkers himself even if Rick told him not to…maybe he’d start understanding Rick now… “Told you not to! What if they killed you?!”

“I can do it!” Dana snapped back, sounding angry too, but all Daryl’s scared anger left him when he noticed tears in her eyes. “I’ve killed before! I’m not useless! I’m no kitten!”

Daryl didn’t know what to say or what to do, but he regretted that he had yelled at her, the idea of maybe having scared her felt like a kick…he had upset her for sure, but he was scared at the idea of her having gotten hurt, even bitten or killed, he couldn’t help it. He just looked at her while Dana glared at him, before he reached out tentatively to try and check her again, but Dana seemed mad, almost like the feral woman that he first met at the warehouse, and she pushed him away before rushing towards the cabin.

Daryl followed her, looking at her getting inside the cabin and closing the door behind her. “Dana?” He called for her but there was no answer, and Daryl felt like shit. He had yelled at her…but she had to see that he was worried, that she had scared him, right? What if now she wouldn’t want to go back to the prison with him? What if she’d want to stay away in that cabin like she’d been in the warehouse?

Daryl decided to stop thinking it and he went back to the bike, but he couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t stop his regret and fears, and he didn’t know what to do. After a little while, though, he noticed Dana walking out of the cabin. He still didn’t know what to do and so he focused his gaze on the bike, tinkering with it even if his mind was on Dana, afraid that maybe just looking at her might upset her or scare her after he’d yelled at her. He noticed her kneeling down next to him, and suddenly he felt her touching him, and when he looked at her, he realized that she’d headbutted him softly, gently nudging his arm with her forehead once.

“Are you okay?” Daryl asked her softly and Dana nodded. “I…I’m sorry I yelled…” Dana nodded again. “I just…I…I got scared, I saw the blood and thought you were hurt,” he made himself explain it even if he was embarrassed and shy. “Got scared thinking a walker would hurt you.”

“I’m sorry,” Dana murmured, apologizing too. “I’m sorry I pushed you.”

“It’s okay.”

“No.”

“Just…just don’t do it again, alright? You know it’s dangerous.” Daryl asked her softly, he didn’t want to feel like that again. “If there’s a group of walkers we put them down together…it ain’t that I think you can’t do it alone, I know you’re a fighter, just…” Daryl shrugged, not knowing how to explain it. “You don’t have to. Me…I…me and everyone in the prison, we got your back now, alright? Just let us help.” Dana nodded again and Daryl looked at her, the blood that had spattered over her face and hair, down her neck, smearing on her shirt and arms… “You’re a mess.”

“Always,” Dana joked and Daryl snorted.

He reached into his bag, taking the bottle of water and a rag, and pouring the water on it, he began washing the blood smeared on Dana’s face, cleaning her a bit so people in the prison wouldn’t freak out at the sight. “I’m just gonna take the whole bike, drag it to the pickup and work on it back at the prison,” he said and Dana nodded, eyes closed as he brushed her face with the wet rag until there wasn’t any blood, though her skin was stained. “Let’s go back home, okay?”

“Okay.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still think they’re cute…that feral kitten might need some cleaning up anf grooming now.
> 
> Thanks to the people who decided to give this story a chance, your support keeps me posting. If you enjoyed this and have a moment, please let me know your thoughts.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter…Dana and Daryl went on a run to pick up an old bike, Dana fought some walkers, ended up drenched in their blood, and almost gave Daryl a heart attack…

They reached the prison when the sun was starting to go down. After Daryl parked the pickup with the other vehicles, Dana helped him to drag the old bike out of the pickup, leaving it in a sheltered place near his own bike. He’d start cleaning it and working on it as soon as he had a moment the next day.

On their way to their cellblock, some people looked at Dana covered in blood, asking if she was okay, to which she nodded awkwardly. Carol stopped them too, and Daryl explained briefly that they had found walkers near the cabin but they had put them down with no problem and they were okay, despite the blood on Dana.

“I know you, wouldn’t be surprised if you saw a herd and decided that you could take it down yourself, why not,” Carol scolded him. “And she’s just like you, isn’t she.” Dana didn’t say anything, just shrugged. “Put those clothes to soak before there’s no way of taking out the blood, half of our clothes supply is bloodstained already.” Dana nodded awkwardly. “I’ll save you both some dinner for when you’re ready.”

They kept going to their cells, and Daryl looked at Dana as she walked into hers, locking the door and already tugging off her shirt and so Daryl looked away. “Hey, um…” He began awkwardly. “You got soaked in blood and guts, why don’t you go to the showers?” He still didn’t know why she didn’t want to, everyone in there seemed to love it when they got the shower system going, but he didn’t want to push her.

“No.”

“Alright…” Daryl was about to go to his cell when suddenly something came to his mind, and he wondered if that might be Dana’s reluctance to shower. “Hey…if you go to the showers, it’ll be safe. You know nobody here will hurt you, right? And no walker can get in, we got fences, and walls, and lookouts.” Maybe Dana was subconsciously anxious at the idea of getting naked without weapons under a stream of water and without a lock, maybe she felt vulnerable. He could understand that.

“No…”

“I, uh…can take watch on the door while you shower, if you wanna,” Daryl offered, shrugging awkwardly.

There was only silence for a moment, but then, Dana spoke. “Okay.”

“Alright…alright, grab some clothes I’m gonna, uh…bring you a towel and all that.” Daryl rushed to the laundry room and came back with not only a towel but more stuff that Beth, who was working there at that moment, had given him.

“So…” He looked at Dana, who was already holding a change of clean clothes, waiting for him. “Here’s the towel, and also soap that someone made, Beth said this one is for you, and also this…” Daryl frowned at a bottle in his hand. “This is Beth’s, said is some oil for the hair, that it helps to untangle it or something.” He gave everything to Dana. “She gave me a comb too.” Dana looked at the comb, scoffing, and she didn’t even take it.

Daryl led her to the showers, closing the doors behind them, and then he waved to their shower system. “So…that is, you pump it and some water falls, and…yeah, that is.” He felt a bit like an idiot explaining it when she could just see it. “I’ll wait outside.”

“No,” Dana said, leaving all her stuff on a bench that they had there for that.

“I’ll be just outside the door, and you really are safe, nobody will barge in, or hurt you, walkers can’t get in, you know it,” Daryl told her softly, but Dana looked at the door, then at the shower and at him, and Daryl didn’t want her to feel anxious, he understood it if she felt subconsciously vulnerable, and if she knew that the danger was not real but she couldn’t help her anxiety anyway, she was probably beating herself about it enough already. Daryl understood. He didn’t want her to feel bad, or weak, or vulnerable. “Okay, I’ll stay.” He took his knife out of his sheath too, to show Dana that he meant it when he said he’d take watch, even if there was no need.

“Thanks…” Dana murmured, and she looked like she knew it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but Daryl nodded reassuringly at her, and she gave him that tiny smile. Then she began to strip down, so Daryl quickly turned away, facing the door, flustered. “Shy,” Dana said, and she sounded amused.

“Ain’t shy,” Daryl grumbled, flustered. “But I ain’t taking my clothes off anywhere and in front of anyone.”

Dana chuckled. “Worse things in the world than being naked.”

Daryl guessed so, but still, he couldn’t help how his cheeks burned. He heard Dana pumping the water and it splashing, but after a while, he heard Dana cursing. “Somethin’ wrong?” Daryl asked, but Dana just cursed again, and Daryl ventured a quick look at her, finding her cursing as she tugged at her hair, before he looked away again, though he heard Dana walking to him.

“Knife,” she asked, nudging his arm.

“What for?”

“To stab you,” Dana scoffed. “For the hair.” So, it seemed she was done at trying to untangle it again, even if she had already chopped it short, Daryl knew that she hadn’t cared to untangle her hair for a while, who cared for that when your priority was survival, and so her locks had gotten tangled and tangled.

“Wait, uh…I’ll help you…” Daryl found himself offering, didn’t know why, he didn’t even know if he could help , he didn’t even brush his own hair. “Just…uh…get some clothes on…” he said, cheeks burning again. He heard Dana walking away, and then she went back and tugged at his shirt, so Daryl turned to look at her. She hadn’t gotten dressed, but she had wrapped the towel around her wet body, and she turned so her back was to him and he could help her with her hair.

“Ain’t you cold…” Daryl murmured awkwardly and she just shrugged.

Without clothes on and with her hair short, Daryl could see more of her old wounds and marks, but some scars stood out. Those seemed burning marks, going from the back of her neck until almost reaching between her shoulder blades, making geometrical patterns as if someone had wanted to brand her, and Daryl felt his blood burn. He brushed a finger over the scars softly, couldn’t help himself, and Dana stiffed.

“Did you kill them? The people who did this?” Daryl asked and Dana nodded. “Good.” Daryl stopped looking at the scars and focused on the task on hand, untangle Dana’s short hair…he wasn’t too confident in his ability, but he took the oil bottle that Beth had given him, pouring some on his fingers, and then he tried to run them through Dana’s curls to see if he could ease some of the knots…instead, he tugged at her locks, and Dana cursed and hissed, slapping his hand away and glaring at him. “Sorry, sorry, let me…I…”

Daryl looked at her hair, clueless, but tried again, taking a small lock of hair and softly trying to ease the knot, being as gentle and slow as he could, trying his best not to tug at her locks of hair, and this time Dana didn’t complain, so he kept going like that. It was a slow process, and he managed to untangle some knots, but he had to cut the worst ones with his knife, so her already short hair was shorter in some parts but with some curls of hair spiking out here and there too…Daryl still thought it suited her.

Eventually, he could more or less brush his fingers through her wet and oiled black locks with some ease, so he was about to tell her that it was done, but then he noticed that Dana had her eyes closed and a small smile on her face, as if she were enjoying it, and so Daryl swallowed hard, nervous, but kept going.

“Okay…” He said eventually. “All done.”

Dana turned around and smiled at him. “Thanks,” she said. She dropped the towel again and Daryl turned around to face the wall quickly. He heard her walking to the shower and the water splashing again for a little while. The next time that Dana tugged at his shirt, she was already dressed.

“Alright, let’s go,” Daryl said, but Dana didn’t move, pointing towards the shower.

“You?”

“Nah, I…I don’t…” Daryl stammered, flustered. “No need to… but uh…thanks…”

“Shy,” Dana smirked, following him back to their cells.

*

Daryl was on his cell, changing clothes before he went to grab some late dinner for him and Dana, knowing that if Carol saw him with his dirt-covered clothes, she’d get him to drop them at the laundry anyway, she didn’t understand why he was almost always wearing the same clothes, ripped and dirty or not, even now that they had a decent stash of clothes, but Daryl didn’t think it was a big deal.

He’d taken off his shirt and his back was to the door of the cell, but he noticed someone there anyway and he turned quickly. It was Dana, holding two bowls of stew, as if this time it was her who had decided to get them dinner, making progress at getting used to the prison little by little.

“Uh…” Daryl looked down awkwardly before reaching to take one of the bowls. “Thanks.”

Dana gave him the bowl but didn’t leave, and she kept looking at him, eyes trailing over the faint scars on his chest, making him feel even more awkward. Then she walked into the cell, and Daryl felt his heart hammering in his chest, shy and nervous, but he felt frozen too while Dana walked around him. She left the bowls of stew on the smell cell, and then Daryl felt her finger softly trailing one of the deep scars on his back and he shivered, swallowing hard.

Dana walked in front of him again, looking at him. “Who?”

Daryl chewed on his lip, looking down, but finally answered. “My father.” There it came again, that shame at not having been able to stop him. “Mean bastard.”

“You killed him?”

Daryl shook his head…he hadn’t been able and it only brought more shame. “But he’s dead.”

“Good,” Dana growled, nodding. She took her bowl of stew and walked away from the cell.

Daryl swallowed hard, trying to control himself, trying to even his breathing. Then, he thought it for a moment but finally he put on a shirt, took his bowl of stew, and walked to Dana’s cell. “Wanna eat together?” He asked bashfully from the door and Dana nodded.

They ate in silence, sat down next to each other on the bed, but soon it wasn’t awkward anymore and Daryl began to relax, and when Dana nudged his arm with the side of her head softly once, affectionately, he couldn’t help his small smile.

Once they finished the stew, Daryl took the bowls to the kitchen, washing them, before going back to the cellblock. On her way, Daryl stumbled into Rick, and he nodded at him, but frowned when he noticed Rick’s smirk.

“What?”

“First you get all guard dog at the outside of her cell, not you get into the shower with her?” Rick asked with a grin and Daryl barely could stop himself from slapping it off his face, and he groaned internally while he blushed red up to his ears, of course that someone had to see them walking into the showers or getting out together.

“Ain’t like that!” He snapped, defensive, which just made Rick chuckle, seeming more amused.

“I imagine…”

Daryl scoffed. “I’m gonna sleep.”

“On your cell or hers?” Rick asked with that shit-eating grin.

“Told you it ain’t like that!”

“Oh, I know but where’s the fun if I can’t mess with you?” Rick laughed and Daryl scoffed again. He began to walk away, but he stopped when something came to his mind.

“Yo, Rick.”

“Yeah?”

“You know when you…uh…” Daryl frowned, wondering how to word it. “When you’re all the time bothering me about not going to kill groups of walkers alone and all that.” Just like he’d told Dana and she hadn’t listened, scaring him when he saw her bloodied up fighting a group of dead assholes.

“Yeah, and you’re always annoyed saying that you can do it and telling me to leave you alone?” Rick nodded, still seeming amused.

“Just…uh…Thanks…for caring and all that…” Daryl shrugged, looking down shyly, feeling a bit like an idiot.

“Of course I care.” Rick squeezed his shoulder. “You’re my family.”

Daryl nodded, feeling emotional, and he wasn’t sure if he made a good job at not showing it. “You too…” He muttered before retreating. “Night.”

*

Weeks passed, and each day Daryl thought that Dana seemed more integrated within the community. She didn’t seem that on edge all the time, didn’t look like she might consider leaving and running away, and although she was often in her cell, she didn’t lock the door that often, only when she was asleep. She was not talkative at all, but she didn’t steer clear of people anymore, even if she was awkward around them, and she even gave them a couple of words here and there when it was necessary, and she was starting to open up a bit to Maggie and Beth, and Michonne whenever she was back.

She still spent most of her time with him, despite not being scared of the others now. They’d go hunting and patrolling in the mornings, and now when they went out, Daryl made sure that Dana got a silenced rifle with her. She still had a lot to learn, it wasn’t easy work, but she was getting better at tracking, and the first time that she had shot and killed a rabbit herself, Daryl had beamed with pride. For how much Daryl had liked his days of solitude at the woods, he had to admit that he enjoyed walking next to her, showing her stuff, teaching her, getting her to talk to him sometimes, while other times they’d walk in comfortable silence.

Once back, they’d get their kills ready together, and then Daryl would go to either do something else that someone needed or to tinker with the old bike. Dana sometimes went to tend to the horses, others helped Rick with anything he asked her, and other times she’d just go to her cell, but sometimes, when Daryl went to work on the bike, she’d go with him and either watch him work in silence or bring a book with her to read, and Daryl did enjoy her quiet company…but not as much as when he managed to get her to smile at something, making his belly do funny things, glad that she trusted him and opened to him, glad that she was feeling better, safe, hopefully happy.

Dana had recently started going on runs too when Maggie and Glenn needed people, either pairing up with Maggie or with him, and Daryl had already known that she was a good fighter, but seeing her in runs, putting down walkers by knife, just confirmed it more, even if he was still worried when there was a group around her. She seemed to turn back into a lioness when she fought them, ruthless and skillful, but once the danger was gone, she had that tiny smile for him that always got him smiling and feeling his belly tingling, as she was back to look like a shy, quiet cat instead of a feral one. He knew that Maggie and Glenn appreciated having her on runs now, and Daryl somehow felt proud.

They were on one now, in what had been a mall once, with a group. Maggie and Glenn had been planning it for more than a week, and everything had worked according to their plan. They had cleared the walkers, and although for one moment of panic it had seemed that one of their people had gotten trapped by a group, Daryl had shot at some while Maggie and Dana put down others by knife, and finally the cornered guy hadn’t been hurt.

They were now carrying all the stuff that they could find to their vehicles, and Daryl smiled when she noticed someone nudging his arm affectionately, knowing that it was Dana. “Hey, cat,” he said and she gave him that tiny smile. “You did well back there.” Dana’s smile grew, and Daryl couldn’t help his own.

He opened the truck of one of the cars, placing inside the box that he was carrying, and Dana did the same. Then, he looked at Dana again. The blood of one of the walkers had spattered on her face, and Daryl reached out a finger to smear one of the blood droplets, making Dana scrunch her nose and move her head away, and Daryl chuckled. “How do you always manage to end up like such a mess?” He told her and Dana scoffed, pushing him with her shoulder softly, but she smirked.

“Talent,” she said, shrugging, and Daryl snorted.

“Everything ready?” Maggie asked, and everyone nodded.

“Alright, very good job today, people,” Glenn said. “Well done, let’s go back home.”

Daryl and Dana went to the bike, but before getting on it, Daryl took a bottle of water from his bag and a rag from his back pocket. “Come here, messy cat, you’re gonna scare someone if the first thing they see is us on the bike with you all bloodied,” he said, pouring the water onto the rag and brushing it over Dana’s face.

“Should be used to,” Dana said, shrugging, and she closed her eyes, smiling softly when he began to gently clean her face.

“Alright…better.” Daryl nodded at Dana, getting the bottle and the rag into his bag and tying it to the bike with Dana’s. “Hop in,” he said as he swung his leg over the bike. Dana hold to his shoulders and got situated behind him, reaching back to hold onto the metal part in which Daryl carried the crossbow. “Ready?” He asked, kicking the bike into motion when Dana nodded and riding in front of the cars back to the prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love them.
> 
> Thanks to the people supporting this.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.


	6. Chapter 6

“Told you I’m fine…” Michonne grumbled, sat down on a bed, half lying against some pillows. while Rick, Daryl, and Dana looked at her.

She had come back riding that day, with some bruises and a sprained ankle. Apparently, for what she’d said, she had been on her way to check a residential area, when she’d been surprised by a group of walkers that scared the horse, and she’d fallen down, spraining her ankle. Somehow, the horse had not run away, loyal to Michonne, and she’d managed to limp and get back on the horse before walkers could reach her, putting down some with her katana from the horse before riding away, and she’d managed to get back to the prison.

“You could have died,” Rick said, stern. “What were you thinking?”

“If I hadn’t fallen on my ankle I’d have put down every walker there without a problem.” Michonne scoffed. “No, don’t look at me like that, like you don’t do stuff like that all the time, you both.” She waved at Rick and Daryl. “Also, you.” She nodded at Dana, though she hadn’t said anything.

“You gotta be more careful, though,” Daryl said, he was scared thinking how close Michonne had been to dying. “This goin’ out alone, being out for days on your own, ain’t safe.”

Michonne rolled her eyes. “Yes, because before you found Dana, you never went out alone and never put down groups of walkers on your own.” She had a point, but it didn’t mean that Daryl wasn’t worried about her.

“Daryl’s right,” Rick said. “We have a home, a safe place, and we need people here helping around, we need you here, and on runs, working together. Your home is here with us, you don’t need to be outside on your own anymore.”

“You know I have to…” Michonne said quietly, looking down.

Daryl chewed on his thumbnail before speaking again. “Michonne…we talked about it. He’s gone. Trail is cold. We ain’t gonna find him. I know you wanna, but you ain’t goin’ to, you’re just gonna get yourself hurt. Rick’s right, people need you here.” He, for one, would be less worried if Michonne were around, and she was someone that now Daryl could call a friend, family. Michonne looked at him and then down, but didn’t say anything.

“I couldn’t even see if there was something useful in that group of houses,” she finally said, scoffing.

“Place’s far enough that it’d be a waste to send the team if there’s nothing useful there, or nothin’ that we need to carry in cars,” Daryl said. “I can go with the bike, I’d be faster than the car, if there’s somethin’ worth goin’ I’ll tell Glenn.”

“I don’t know…” Rick frowned.

“Come on, Rick, you know I can get there faster than a car, and ride fast if there are walkers.” Daryl had ridden his way out of a big group of walkers more than once, while cars would get trapped more easily. “I’ll see if it’s worth sendin’ a group.”

Rick seemed to think it but finally he let out a sigh and nodded. “Alright…but not alone, you’re not doing a Michonne.” Michonne herself scoffed at that wording.

“Can take only one on the bike.” Daryl shrugged.

“Me,” Dana said quickly.

“Okay.” Rick nodded. “I’ll get a map so Michonne can point you where it is.”

“I could go…”

“Michonne.” Rick looked at her sternly. “You have a sprained ankle.”

Michonne let out a sigh, and Daryl knew that she didn’t like the inactivity, he understood that. “Okay…give me that map…”

*

Daryl was in his cell, making sure that he had everything ready to leave the next morning, when he noticed Dana looking at him from the door. “Hey, cat,” he greeted her. “You okay.” She nodded and walked into the cell, sitting on the bunk. “You sure about comin´ tomorrow?”

Dana nodded but then frowned. “Don’t want me?”

“No, I do,” Daryl assured her, sometimes she tended to think that maybe he didn’t want her around and Daryl hated it, but he just wanted her to be safe. “But not if you don’t want to, I can ask someone else, it’ll be fine.”

“I want to…” Dana murmured.

“Alright, cat,” Daryl chewed on his thumbnail, shy. “I uh…I’m glad you got my back.” Dana gave him a smile at that, and Daryl couldn’t help his own.

“Daryl…” Dana said, serious now. “Who’s Michonne looking for?”

Daryl let out a sigh, sitting down next to her on the bed. “This asshole…he called himself the Governor, he led in a town near here, Woodbury, most of the people in here were from that place, but he was a prick, crazy, attacked us, tried to kill us, then did the same to his own people so we took them in. He uh…killed some of our own…” Daryl tried to summarize, and he tried not to think on Merle, swallowing hard. Dana seemed to notice that something was wrong, because she nudged his arm with her head affectionately, like sometimes she did.

“So…we won, but he escaped…I spent a long while out there with Michonne lookin´ for him, tracking him, but he’s gone, never found anythin´. It’s like she can’t give up, though.” Sometimes Daryl wondered if he should still be out there too, looking with Michonne, but he was sure that the governor was away from there of dead. But if he were out there with Michonne, she’d be safer, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt now…but Rick said that he was needed there, and he did like to be there, help around the prison, go on runs, find people in need and bring them to safety, he liked to be near his family, near Dana…he still felt guilty about not being out there with Michonne, though, about having given up on the search for the governor, and he missed her and worried about her when she was gone.

“Okay?” Dana asked, frowning.

“Yeah, yeah, just…dunno, can’t help but think maybe I should keep the search too, but it’s been like a year…but maybe I should be out there with Michonne.” Daryl shrugged, self-conscious.

Dana shook her head before she spoke. “You hunt for people, feed them, help them here, help in runs…you have to stay here.” Daryl blinked at Dana. They talked every day, but he didn’t think he’d heard Dana say so many words together. “Michonne…should stay too. But if she leaves and if you leave with her, I go too.”

Daryl was just more taken aback at that. “You’re safe here, safer than outside.”

“So are you, so is Michonne.” Dana shrugged. “You are…I…” She frowned, looking down, as if she didn’t know what to say. “You leave I leave with you.”

“Why?” Daryl frowned.

“I want to.” Dana shrugged again. “I want to be with you…I like to…” Daryl didn’t know what to say, but he was feeling emotional and his stomach was doing funny things, and so he looked away, swallowing hard, before nodding. “But…don’t leave?” Dana asked quietly.

“I ain’t gonna,” Daryl assured her, and Dana smiled softly, making him feel shyer. “We should uh…we should rest…gotta leave very early tomorrow.”

Dana nodded and she brushed his arm with her head again gently before getting up and leaving his cell towards hers.

*

Daryl and Dana left the prison early in the morning, when the sky was still dark and the sun was just starting to rise on the east, riding on his bike. It was a long journey, and Daryl didn’t stop until they were almost there and they could see some of the houses away, but still far enough.

Daryl turned to look at Dana over his shoulder. “Alright, there…” he waved towards the entry of the area. “Is where Michonne was ambushed by those walkers. I don’t want the same to happen to us, alright, so we don’t go for them, we stop far enough, make noise, and let them come to us so we can shoot at them as they come, alright? Not direct fight.”

“Waste of bullets.” Dana shrugged and at any other moment, Daryl would probably have agreed with her, but maybe Rick’s and Glenn’s ideas were rubbing on him, or maybe it had been the scares of Dana fighting a group of walkers alone and getting all bloodied, and of Michonne hurting her ankle in the middle of a group of walkers, but this time, Daryl wasn’t going to risk it, much less with Dana there.

“Bullets will be wasted anyway if walkers kill you,” Daryl just said. “Alright so, walkers go on groups and herds, for whatever reason.” Daryl had no idea why, neither was he going to investigate it. “So I’m hopin’ that every walker here is in the group and when we make noise, they all will come, so we won’t have to worry about others around the place later. If we see they’re too many, we’re still next to the bike so we ride the hell out of here, alright?”

Dana just shrugged but nodded. Daryl didn’t know how he felt about making plans, if it was a good one or not, usually Rick or Glenn and Maggie were the ones planning stuff while he just got things done. He hoped it was good enough and not a mess, but Dana wasn’t giving him any input.

“It’s a shit plan?” He straight up asked.

“No…I don’t know…don’t plan much.” Dana shrugged and Daryl didn’t know what had he been expecting. “Just waste of bullets.”

“Won’t think the same if we find fifty walkers.” Daryl scoffed, nudging her softly with his shoulder before kicking the bike into motion again, driving slightly closer to the place. “Alright…” He dismounted and grabbed the crossbow, getting ready, while Dana did the same with her rifle. “Ready?” He asked, and when Dana nodded, he slammed the honk of the bike several times.

In a few seconds, Daryl could make the growl of walkers. Some stray walkers came from around, while a bigger group came from the small residential area, though luckily it was not a herd, but looking at it, Daryl was not surprised that Michonne had been ambushed and the horse spooked, and he could only be glad that she’d ended up just with a sprained ankle. If you didn’t know that there was a group of walkers around, you could easily end up in quite a mess. They had been right stopping the bike far from it to shoot at them.

“Alright, let’s clear the stray ones first, you the ones to the left.” It’d be harder to keep an eye on those than in the group. “Then we’ll shoot at the big one together.” Or else, they could just ride away if they got to close, but at least they’d have cleared the others.

They began shooting, clearing the stray walkers all around. “Shit…” Daryl heard Dana cursing and when he glanced at her, he realized she’d missed a shot, but she’d put down several walkers nonetheless. “You’re doing great,” Daryl encouraged her.

Soon enough, the stray walkers were down, so they focused on the bigger group before it could get too close. Daryl knew he wouldn’t have enough arrows to put down every walker in that group after putting down the stray walkers too, so he was glad that Rick had reminded him to take another rifle just in case.

“Keep going,” Daryl said when he ran out of arrows, dropping the crossbow and getting the rifle to join the shooting again.

“Knife?” Dana said when there were just a few walkers left and already close.

“Alright…” Daryl nodded, if those weren’t the only walkers around, he didn’t want to risk getting low on ammo, not knowing what they could find inside the houses. If Rick had known the amount of walkers there, for sure he’d have sent a group instead of letting Daryl go on the bike, but Daryl thought he and Dana weren’t doing a bad job at putting them down, for now at least.

They left the rifles and grabbed their knives, rushing to the walkers, fighting back to back, grabbing the monsters and sinking the knives into their brains, and Daryl had to admit it, this was easier than doing it alone. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to clear them all before they got too close to him without Dana there.

“Alright…those are all for now…” Daryl said, looking around and Dana nodded, scanning their surroundings, but neither she seemed to notice any other walkers. Daryl looked at her and smirked. “Look, and you didn’t even end up all blood-splattered, that’s a real improvement.”

Dana scoffed, and before Daryl knew what was going on, she brushed her finger across the side of her blood-smeared knife blade and then ran that, now bloodied, finger across Daryl’s cheek, smearing it with walker’s blood. “Stop it,” Daryl turned his face away but couldn’t stop his smirk. “You know somethin’, coverin’ yourself in blood and guts of walkers works to walk across groups of them without them noticin’ you, or that’s what Rick and Glenn say, they did it once in Atlanta.”

“Really?” Dana frowned.

“Yeah, you gotta be quiet and walk slow, like they recognize us by smell and sound.” Daryl shrugged, he didn’t know much, he’d never tried it himself, but it was something useful to know. Dana seemed to think the same, nodding thoughtfully. “Alright…I’m gonna get the arrows back and then we’ll check the houses, yeah?”

Once they were ready, they got to the bike again. The residential area seemed small, just a single street lined with houses, it seemed that they had wanted to build more but had run out of time. Still, Daryl wanted to have the bike close, in case they might need to ride away for any reason, whether it was walkers or people. When he honked again, near a couple of the houses, he heard a sound and followed it, finding a walker trapped in a fence trying to get to them, and so he put it down by knife.

“Open doors on those houses,” Dana said, pointing at them. “No walkers, or trapped.” Yes, Daryl knew it made sense, otherwise, they’d have gone following the sound of his honk. “Closed doors.” She pointed at a couple of houses. There could be walkers on those.

“We check those first?” Daryl asked and Dana nodded.

They found a couple of walkers inside one, three on the other, almost dried already, nothing they couldn’t put down easily with their knives. There wasn’t much inside, as if people hadn’t been living there before walkers started roaming the world, though there was some stuff left from people that seemed to have taken refuge in there and seemed to have found a bad end.

“Looks like most of the walkers here were on those groups we killed,” Daryl said and Dana nodded. Still, he knew they shouldn’t get too confident about it.

The houses with broken doors didn’t have walkers inside, just one in a closed room, and a few corpses lying around. Neither they found much stuff to carry with them, nothing that they couldn’t get in the bags of the bike, and so Daryl was glad that they hadn’t sent a full group. Still, it hadn’t been a total waste of time, there were some tools and knives around, and those were always welcome, also stuff that they could turn into something else, like pieces of fabric, and even a couple of cans of food here and there.

They found a walker lying in one of the houses, almost dried up but alive. Its legs seemed to have been torn, Daryl didn’t know how, so all it could do was crawl, reaching out towards them. It made Daryl feel more uneasy than he would admit, and he shot to its head, putting it down and retrieving the arrow before he kept on inspecting the house.

Before he could move, though, he felt Dana tugging at his shirt. “Daryl…you think…the people, can know what happens but can’t stop it?”She pointed at the dead walker. “Like trapped inside?”

“I don’t know…don’t think so.” Daryl frowned. “Almost at the beginnin´ of all, I went with Rick and some others to the CDC, there was a crazy scientific there. He showed us some videos and scientific stuff, I didn’t understand shit. But he showed us that the brain died and then part like…kept workin’ again? I don’t know. But the people died before it so…I guess they’re really dead, don’t know nothin’, they’re not them, just…” Daryl shrugged, not sure of how to word it, not sure if he believed in a soul or something like that, that could leave the body or if that was bullshit, but he knew that those things were dead and not whoever they had been, they didn’t think or feel. “Just…just flesh I guess? Don’t think they know or feel nothin’.”

Dana hummed, thoughtful. “Good.” She nodded. “Weird…but good.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand it either…Now come on.” Daryl reached out to squeeze Dana’s shoulder shyly. “Let’s finish checkin’ everythin’ before it’s dark.”

Entering into the last house that they had to check, they were greeted by the sight of the corpse of a man who had shot himself in the head, and Daryl tried not to think what might have driven him to do so. Dana and him split to check different rooms, and at first it seemed like there wasn’t anything useful, but finally Daryl found a box with some cans of food.

“Found somethin’, cat?” He asked but there was no answer, and Daryl frowned, walking towards where Dana had gone. “Dana?” She seemed to have closed the door of a room behind her and the absence of an answer was worrying Daryl, even if he hadn’t heard any struggle. He rushed to the door and was about to open it when the door opened and Dana walked outside, seeming startled to find him there.

“Hey…” She sheathed her knife and pulled the door closed behind her.

“You okay?” Daryl frowned at her, feeling like something was wrong.

“Yes…found something?”

“Yeah, a box of…uh…” Daryl kept frowning, looking at the closed door behind Dana. “There’s somethin’ wrong?”

“No. Nothing useful.” Dana shook her head. “Come on.”

Daryl kept looking at her and the door, still feeling like something was off, and then he gently pushed Dana away from the door, opening it and looking inside before Dana could do anything. Lying on the ground there was a little girl and a toddler, stab wounds in their heads, and judging by how they looked, they seemed to have died at the same time than the man who killed himself in the living room, but those two had turned into walkers before they were put down.

Daryl had seen a lot of shit in his life, both before and after the world changed and walkers were a thing, and still, the sight was like a kick to the gut and he swallowed hard, feeling his throat tight. Suddenly, he felt Dana’s arms wrapping around his waist, hugging him from behind and resting her cheek on his back.

“You didn’t need to see it,” she said quietly, and Daryl realized that she had closed the door for that reason, somehow she’d known how it’d affect him and she had tried to shield him from it, to protect him, and the realization made him even more emotional, and he found himself resting his hand on top Dana’s on his waist.

Daryl knew, in a way, that Dana worried for him, that she cared for him, the same way that he did for her, but seeing it like that, seeing her trying to shield him from something horrible, dealing with it herself in silence… A warm wave of gratitude went through him. It meant more than what he could say, he didn’t even know how to say it, he’d never known how to say to Dana what she meant to him.

He’d protect her and shield her from every horror of the world too, if he could, and he hoped she knew. He was glad that he had someone like her always with him, a quiet shadow that looked over him, had his back, tried to ease his way through the harsh word. Daryl swallowed hard, trying to control emotions that were getting out of hand.

“Let’s go…” Dana whispered, and Daryl let her tug him away from the door, closing it.

“Uh…thanks…” Daryl murmured, looking down. It wasn’t what he wanted to tell her, not only that, but he found himself unable to say anything else. Dana just smiled softly, brushing his arm with the side of her head gently and affectionately, before she held his hand, tugging at him away from the closed door, and Daryl let her lead him out of the house, even if he felt more than shy with his hand on hers, and he tried to stop his mind and do something useful again. “Sun’s goin’ down, we should stay in one of those houses that still have doors.”

Dana nodded and they went to the one with fewer bodies, taking them outside. Daryl even dragged his bike into the house, helped by Dana. If for some reason people might happen to stumble into the place, which Dary hoped won’t happen, he didn’t want them to see the bike. Once everything was ready, they sat down in the living room to eat from a couple of the cans that they had found.

“Here, last piece of tuna for you, kitten,” Daryl joked, handing it to Dana, who scoffed but smiled

“No kitten,” Dana said, munching on the tuna.

Soon, they had finished dinner and the sun had gone down, leaving the room illuminated by a couple of candles that they had found in a house.

“I’ll take first watch,” Daryl offered and Dana frowned.

“There’s a door.”

“Yeah, it’d stop walkers, but not people, can’t be locked and I don’t wanna risk it,” Daryl explained, he hadn’t seen anything around that he could drag and block the door, the house seemed almost bare. Dana nodded, understanding. “Come on, sleep, I’ll take first watch and wake you later.”

“You better,” Dana murmured, curling down on the floor next to him, using her bag as a pillow. She closed her eyes, letting out a sigh, and then she reached out her hand so it was resting near Daryl’s thigh, fingertips barely brushing it. He wondered if she wanted to reassure herself that he was there…if maybe even she felt safer like that…he felt all warm inside at the idea and his stomach did something weird.

Daryl looked at her sleeping, feeling not for the first time how fond of her he’d grown, how much he cared for her, how much he liked to have her around, and when today she’d tried to shield him from something horrible, those feelings just seemed to have multiplied…or maybe they always were that strong, that many, but he’d gotten just more aware of them. They were overwhelming, but they felt kind of good too.

Smiling softly as he looked at her, Daryl couldn’t stop himself from reaching out to brush his knuckles over her cheek ever so softly. Dana’s eyes opened at it and Daryl froze, realizing that either she wasn’t asleep yet or he’d woken her up. He took his hand away, flustered and feeling his cheeks blushing. Dana, though, seemed content enough, as she gave him a lazy, soft smile.

Then, she was shifting to rest her head on his lap instead of the pillow, and Daryl’s stomach did again those weird, nervous twirls, while his heart seemed to beat so fast that it could jump out of his chest. Dana gave him another small smile before she closed her eyes, snuggling more, and she reached out to take his hand and place it on her head. Daryl’s heart went even more out of control, but he swallowed hard and began to stroke her hair, gently and shyly, careful not to tug at it.

“You said you ain’t no kitten…lookin’ like one now…” He said bashfully, his nerves reflecting on his voice.

Dana’s lips curled up into a small smile, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Kitten just with you,” she murmured, making those funny twirls in Daryl’s stomach get just worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love them, I can’t help it.
> 
> Thanks to the people supporting this. If you enjoyed this please let me know your thoughts.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.


	7. Chapter 7

Weeks kept coming and going, and Dana seemed more and more integrated, even if she was still quiet and not a people’s person, but she was one of them now…she still stayed at Daryl’s side, though, and he couldn’t say that he didn’t enjoy it, because he did, even if those unwelcome twirls kept partying in his belly sometimes or his heart beat a bit a too fast now and then when they were together.

Daryl liked to go out to the woods with her, patrolling and tracking, hunting for their people, he liked to see her getting better at it each day, he liked their quiet conversations and he liked even more when it seemed like they were able to communicate without words. He liked it when he was working on any vehicle and she was sat down near, a silent presence, either reading or watching him working. He liked the way she smiled to him and the affectionate touches she sometimes gave him, even if it made his heart and belly do weird things.

They were in a run now, it’d been a big one and everything seemed to have gone well, Maggie and Glenn were happy with it, they had found stuff and they hadn’t suffered any accident. Daryl was loading stuff into the bags attached to the bike when he felt something nudging his arm and he smiled, looking to the side to find Dana there.

“Hey, cat, you ready?”

She nodded, getting some more stuff into the bags, and then they got onto the bike. Dana wrapped her arms around him, at first she always held to the chassis of the bike , but for a while now, she’d been holding to him, and Daryl liked it more than he’d want to admit. They had been riding for a while, at the lead of the cars, when suddenly Dana tugged at his shirt.

“Stop.”

Daryl did so, frowning, looking at her over his shoulder as she looked around. “What?” She didn’t need to answer, though, he heard it then, growls of walkers not too far and what sounded like people fighting them. He jumped off the bike, waving at the cars. “Someone’s in trouble!” He shouted at them before he ran towards the noise, already taking his knife, Dana behind him, getting into the woods.

They didn’t have to go far to see a woman and a man fighting off walkers, but only the woman had a knife, putting down more walkers than probably she could alone, while the man seemed to try to desperately tug back a knife that by the look of it, had broken into a walker’s skull. Daryl was already sinking his knife into a walker’s head when he realized that there was another woman not far, on the ground, looking at everything with wide, scared eyes. Walkers were going to her but she wasn’t getting up, and Daryl realized that she must be hurt.

He looked back and saw Maggie, Glenn, and the others, and he looked at Dana. “Take care of these ones.” He waved at the walkers, he knew she could deal with them and she had the others to help now, and he rushed to put down the walkers going to the woman on the ground before they could get her. Once there didn’t seem to be any threat around, Daryl looked at the woman, who was looking at him from the ground with wide eyes. “You okay?”

She shook her head. “I fell and I can’t put weight on my ankle.”

“Alright, come on…” Daryl reached down for the woman, helping her to get up and she leaned onto him, groaning and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Daryl helped her to walk to the others, feeling awkward, but he wasn’t going to push her away, it looked like she had broken or strained her ankle.

There didn’t seem to be more walkers around, and so Glenn asked the usual questions to bring people into their place, and it was decided they’d be taken in. The woman was still clinging to him, and so Daryl helped her to walk to their vehicles, even he still felt awkward.

“Thank you,” the woman smiled at him. “For everything really.”

“Ain’t nothin’…” Daryl shrugged, looking down.

“It was, you helped us with those things, they were so many, and you certainly saved me!” The woman insisted, still holding to him, and Daryl just shrugged awkwardly again.

“Ain’t the only one.” Everyone had run to help. “And Dana’s the one who heard you all.” He nodded towards Dana, who was already sat down on the bike, looking at him.

“Is she your girlfriend?” The woman asked and for some reason, it made Daryl blush red, his heart and stomach doing that weird thing, and he could feel his face heating up, burning. He shook his hair, trying to hide his face, embarrassed. Why the hell did he had to get so flustered because of that woman asking if Dana was his girl and why it made him feel like that…no, he didn’t want to think on why.

“No, she’s…she’s Dana…she…” Daryl stammered. “She’s…uh…”

“Alright, guys, let’s get going,” Maggie said while Glenn helped the other people, who still seemed a bit in shock, into one of the cars, and so Daryl helped the woman into the car, careful so she wouldn’t hurt her ankle more.

“I’m Kate, by the way,” she said once she was seated next to his friends, smiling at him.

“Daryl.”

“Thanks again, Daryl.”

“Yeah, thanks!” The man next to her said. “To you all.”

“’was nothin’…” Daryl murmured awkwardly again.

He went towards his bike where Dana was waiting. “You did well,” he told her, reaching out to nudge her arm, though that woman, Kate’s words, came to his mind, and he found himself flustered at the gesture, even if he had gotten used to sharing those little affectionate touches with Dana, that made him feel warm in a weird way. “Those people are alive ‘cause of you.”

“Maybe.” Dana shrugged, and when Daryl got into the bike, instead of holding to him in the usual way she did, she wrapped her arms around him as if she were hugging him. It made him feel all sort of things in his belly, thoughts storming in his head, thoughts Daryl didn’t dwell on, and Kate’s words made it worse.

Daryl kicked the bike into gear and tried to focus just on the drive.

*

It was late when Daryl finally could go to his cell. They had to introduce the new people to Rick and the council, who had their own questions and explanations, then they had to be checked by Hershel, who confirmed that Kate had a sprained ankle, and somehow then Daryl had found himself helping her walk again, that time to the infirmary, since he’d been at the council even if he’d wanted to blur away.

Dana had been there too, even though she didn’t like to be around so many people, but they’d wanted to ask her opinion too, and everyone else’s who had helped in the rescue, and wanted to congratulate her for having heard the struggle. She just shrugged awkwardly and left to her cell as soon as she could, and Daryl wished he could do the same. He guessed someone else could help Kate to walk or find her some crutches or something, and so as soon as he could, he headed to his cell, though first he stopped at Dana’s.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked and Dana nodded from her bunk, but then patted the spot near her, and so Daryl walked in, sitting down next to her bashfully, feeling all weird again, and he hoped he wasn’t blushing like an idiot, like if they had never sat side to side before. “Somethin’ wrong?”

Dana shook her head. “I’m a cat?” She asked, and Daryl frowned at her, confused at the question.

“Uh…yeah?” Daryl didn’t know what else to say, and then Dana nodded and leaned towards him, as she began to rub her head against his shoulder, not nudging him like she sometimes did, but actually rubbing the side of her head against his arm. It made Daryl get flustered even if he didn’t flinch, and he felt those damned twirls in his stomach as his heart did something weird, but he also couldn’t stop his laugh at it. “The hell you doin’?”

“Marking you,” Dana said, rubbing her cheek against the side of his head and it felt good enough that Daryl almost leaned into it before she pulled back.

“What you mean?”

“Mine.”

“What?” Daryl blinked at her, feeling his cheeks burning.

“Mine.”

Daryl didn’t know what to say, flustered, and Dana wasn’t saying anything else, just looking at him. “Let’s uh…let’s …” He stammered, flustered. “Let’s get some rest…let’s go out huntin’ tomorrow mornin’, yeah? So…yeah…rest…” Dana didn’t say anything, just nodded and lied down on the bed, looking at him. “Uh…goodnight.”

Daryl got up and left her cell, closing the door behind him as he knew she liked, and went to his, next to hers, dropping on the bed. He was a damn mess, he knew it, and he didn’t know what to do about it. If Kate’s words earlier asking if Dana was his girlfriend hadn’t messed him enough, Dana calling her hers had added more to it.

What did she mean? She meant hers as…as what? Yeah, he was her friend, her person to rely on, to support her, to care for her, yeah he was all that…was that what she meant? What was that about? Why now? Did she mean like…like hers in some other way…would that ever cross her mind…

Daryl hated how he was blushing all over again. He was trying to guess Dana’s intentions when he couldn’t even deal with his own emotions and feelings. When Kate asked if Dana was his girlfriend, how it made him feel…did he want Dana to be his girlfriend? Just the idea made him feel flustered and kind of like an idiot too.

He did like what he had with Dana. He liked to be with her, in the woods, or around the prison, working on his bike…he liked to talk to her, even if there weren’t that many words or big conversations, but she talked to him more than to anyone else, which made him feel all weird, and he liked their silences too, they could communicate like that. She made his heart do crazy things sometimes, and those damn twirls in his belly that he couldn’t stop, and he looked at her or thought on her and that damn stupid smile would tug at his lips no matter what.

What he really considering that maybe he had a stupid teenager crush in Dana? Wasn’t he too old for that shit? The idea made him feel like an idiot and made him blush even more furiously, his face felt like it was burning. Why did he have to think all that shit. Couldn’t he be content with what they had, he loved his relationship with Dana, his time with her made him feel…he didn’t know, but it was good, but was he really considering if maybe he’d want to have something like Maggie and Glenn had… He felt like such an idiot, he didn’t think he could get even more flustered. He was a damn mess. Why had he started with all this nonsense.

Besides, the fact that suddenly he’d become a mess when thinking about Dana and their relationship, didn’t mean that Dana would want anything like that. Why would she. Yeah, she spent time with him, cared for him, yeah, she was his friend, sure she liked him more than anyone else, and now she was saying that silly thing of him being hers…so…maybe…but nah, that didn’t mean she’d like to, what? Be his girlfriend or some of that shit? The thought sent those damned twirls to Daryl’s belly again and somehow he got even more flustered. Nah…all that didn’t mean that she’d like to kiss him or whatever…and by the way, did he want to kiss her?

Daryl turned on the bed to bury his blushed, burning face onto the pillow almost as if to suffocate himself, or at least his brain. He wanted it to shut up, to stop all this nonsense. It was getting him crazy. Couldn’t he just fall asleep and call it a day? It wasn’t like he wasn’t tired, it’d been a damn long day. Couldn’t just his heart, belly, and mind shut up and let him sleep for once.

Damn, he wished he could shut down his brain.

*

Early the next morning, after not much sleep since his brain, indeed, didn’t shut up, Daryl went to meet with Dana and go to the woods. He’d fallen asleep very late and he’d overslept, though it was still early enough, quite a few people were still sleeping, but later than their usual time to go to the woods.

“Lazy.”

Daryl heard Dana’s teasing voice as she approached him and he scoffed, nudging her shoulder with his, though he couldn’t help his blush. If Dana knew the thoughts that had kept him awake, he’d probably die out of embarrassment. Everything came back to him, couldn’t help it, and he cleared his throat, awkward, looking away from Dana. She tugged at his sleeve to make him look at her, though, and then she smiled, giving him a protein bar. Breakfast, Daryl guessed. Somehow it made him feel all weird all over again, those twirls in his belly, and that damn stupid smile tugging at his lips.

“Thanks…” He murmured, taking the bar and looking away bashfully as he removed the wrap and began munching on it. “Come on…”

They hadn’t gotten out of the prison when Daryl heard a voice calling for him and Dana, and he found Kate sat down on a chair near the window, a pair of old fashioned crutches like Hershel’s near her.

“Hey, you good?” Daryl greeted awkwardly while Dana nodded at the woman but remained silent.

“Yeah, I’m fine, much better thanks to you. You all.” She grinned. “Hershel got me these crutches but I’m useless with them, I’m tripping all the time, I don’t think I can trust myself with stairs or anything like that.”

“You’ll get better.” Daryl guessed that was the good thing to say.

“Yeah…Hershel said my ankle should be better soon enough.”

“Good.” Daryl nodded awkwardly and turned to leave, but Kate spoke again.

“Hey, I was wondering…I bet you’re busy, but today looks like it’s going to be a wonderful day, and I don’t want to be stuck inside now that I can be outside but safe, inside your fences,” Kate said. “But I really don’t trust myself with the crutches, so I was wondering…if maybe you could help me walk outside? Like to the orchard or something?”

“Oh…” Daryl frowned, looking around to see if there were somebody else non-busy around, with no luck. Anyway, it’d take him less than five minutes to walk Kate to the orchard, he and Dana could go hunting after it, it wasn’t too late. “Okay.”

“Thanks, really.” Kate grinned at him, getting up from the chair, supporting an arm on the wall and then already reaching out to wrap her other arm around him, and Daryl tried not to flinch despite being unable not to feel awkward.

“Hunting?” Dana asked.

“Yeah, just…let’s get her to one of those picnic tables outside first,” Daryl said. “Can you get her crutches?” Dana shrugged but picked them up, and slowly, Daryl helped Kate to limp outside and towards the orchard, and then he helped her sit down on one of the picnic tables that faced the plants in which Rick was already working. If Kate needed to move, he could help her. “There you go.”

“Thanks again.” Kate smiled, letting go of him slowly as she settled on the seat, and Dana dropped the crutches next to her on the table.

“Was nothin’.” Daryl shrugged bashfully. “We’re gonna head out huntin’.”

“Thanks for that too, the food,” Kate said. “Be careful out there.”

“Yeah…” Daryl nodded awkwardly and then turned to follow Dana, who was already walking away.

They walked through the woods quietly, which wasn’t unusual, but still, Daryl thought it felt different…or maybe it was all that stupid shit in his head, all those thoughts about Dana that had kept him awake for most of the night. Maybe…maybe Dana had realized it, somehow? Nah, that was even more stupid, it was impossible. Daryl peeked at her…she seemed to be looking around and looking for tracks, as always, but Daryl couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Still, he tried to stop it and stop his silly, overthinking mind, and focus on patrolling and trying to find something to hunt and bring back to the prison.

“She wants you,” Dana said out of the blue after a while, and Daryl frowned, confused.

“What?”

“Kate.”

“What with her?”

Dana rolled her eyes. “She wants you!”

Daryl felt his cheeks heating up when he realized what Dana meant. “She doesn’t!”

“Pff…” Dana rolled her eyes again. “She does.”

“She doesn’t!” Daryl snapped again, embarrassed. “That’s stupid.”

“You’re stupid,” Dana retorted, walking faster, leaving Daryl more than confused. Was she mad? What was that stupidity of Kate wanting him? Dana wasn’t making sense.

“Hey! The hell did I do to annoy you now?!” Daryl walked behind her but Dana didn’t stop, just scoffed as she kept walking fast.

It was crazy, maybe she thought that he wanted something with Kate? That if he did, it’d mean that he would push Dana away, stop spending time with her? Nothing and nobody in the world could make him do that…but maybe she got that crazy idea in her mind? He’d just tried to help Kate around when she had needed it, like he tried to do for all their people.

“Dana, hey, wait! Wait a second!” Daryl reached out to hold her arm and she flinched it away, but she turned to look at him, seeming upset. “Hey, cat, come on…” Daryl chewed on his lip, shy and unsure about what to say. “She doesn’t want me and anyway, I don’t want her.”

“No?” Dana frowned and Daryl couldn’t believe that she was asking.

“No…and I wouldn’t want to stop going out with you or…or nothing…” Daryl shrugged, shyly.

Dana nodded, seeming less upset, and then she turned to walk at a normal pace. “She does want you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Daryl scoffed, Dana was being ridiculous today. “Why would she.” He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

Dana scoffed too and turned to look at him. “Idiot.”

“Whatever,” Daryl murmured, and now he was the one who walked faster, he was starting to feel agitated about the whole thing.

Daryl felt Dana’s hand on his arm and he went to yank it but she didn’t let him, tugging at him, and Daryl turned to face her, about to snap at her to stop the nonsense and leave him alone, when suddenly Dana’s lips were on his. Daryl made a sound of surprise, couldn’t help it, almost move away in shock but at the same time, his body didn’t want to, and his eyes closed on his own accord while those familiar twirls seemed to erupt in his belly and his heart went crazy, even though he was too shocked to return the kiss.

Dana pulled back, looking at him, but she kept her hands on his shoulders, and Daryl’s skin seemed to burn under her touch, lips tingling after her brief kiss. “Why wouldn’t she want you,” she said and Daryl had a million reasons in his head as for why Kate or anyone else wouldn’t want him in the way that Dana meant, but he couldn’t care for it now, couldn’t voice it, because the only thing in his mind after that kiss was the wonder of maybe, maybe Dana actually wanting him like that.

“You uh…you…” He stammered with his words, shy and nervous as he swallowed hard, part of him was as tense and on alert as to when he fought walkers, urging him to flee or fight, but another part of him didn’t want to flee neither to fight that thing, that scary thing in his belly but that also felt oh so good.

Dana seemed to know what he meant and she nodded. “I want you.”

Daryl swallowed hard again, trying to regain his sense, trying to fight those damn twirls in his belly, if those were of excitement or fear, he didn’t know, his pulse was picking up, and hell, he wanted to kiss her so bad again, why hadn’t he realized how he wanted to do that before. All that mess of emotions that he’d been feeling and wondering about just got worse, way worse, almost too overwhelming. Part of him still urged him to fight it, it sounded scary, something dangerous, a bad idea, urged him to run away, but he didn’t.

“You uh…want…want me…want me how?” He stammered, forcing himself to ask, looking down and blushing up to his ears, feeling like his face was about to burst into flames.

Dana had just kissed him, so that couldn’t mean that she wanted him as only a friend? Right…even if the idea of her wanting to kiss him and…and whatnot, felt crazy. But what did she want? Did she want them to kiss and make out and…and whatever, or did she want like an actual relationship? Daryl wondered how could he feel such panic at the idea while at the same time feeling such longing for it, a longing he hadn’t realized he felt but that now hit him with so much force, it was almost overwhelming.

“Want to be with you,” Dana murmured, shrugging, but before Daryl could force himself to ask how, again, she smiled as if she realized what was going through his head. “Want me to ask you out?” She said teasingly. “To ask you to be my boyfriend?”

Daryl scoffed, pushing away from her, everything felt like too much, too overwhelming, he felt silly and vulnerable in a way that he hated, and he felt as if he couldn’t deal with it anymore, everything was too much, and the idea of maybe Dana being just messing around made his throat tight, which just made him feel more agitated and like more of an idiot. Then, he felt Dana’s arms wrapping around him and her pressing herself against his back, hugging him, and he couldn’t fight it, couldn’t move away.

“Be my boyfriend,” Dana said quietly and Daryl turned to frown at her, his heart beating so fast, he couldn’t believe that they were really having this conversation. Dana frowned too as she looked at his face. “Don’t want to?” She began to let go of him, but Daryl did want it, even if the idea was scary and overwhelming, even if it made him nervous as hell, he couldn’t ignore the way in which she made him feel, he didn’t want to fight it, not anymore, and he reached to hold her hands before she pulled away.

“I want it,” he rasped, forced himself to push past his shyness and fear to say it aloud.

“You sure?” Dana asked him and Daryl swallowed hard, nodding.

“And you?” He asked back and Dana nodded, smiling softly. “Really?” Daryl couldn’t stop himself from asking, couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of Dana actually wanting something like that with him, to be with him like that, a relationship, not just the friendship that they had.

“Really.” Dana snorted but she smiled at him in a way that gave him those out of control butterflies again, even more when she reached out to caress the side of his head, pushing his hair away, and Daryl couldn’t help but lean into her touch. “You’re not stupid or an idiot,” she said quietly. “But you can be silly. Sometimes.”

Daryl snorted, he didn’t know what to say, feeling nervous but at the same time, his heart was out of control and butterflies were throwing such a party that it almost embarrassed him. He didn’t need to say anything, though, because Dana was kissing him again, and this time, he kissed her back.

“You still sure?” Dana whispered when she pulled back and Daryl nodded.

“Yeah…” He hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, leaning to hold his forehead against hers, not that Dana seemed to mind as she held him closer to her, and Daryl wondered why he hadn’t done that before, if it meant that he got to feel the way in which he was feeling now, a way in which he hadn’t felt before, and no matter it was still scary, it just felt so damn good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally together! I love them so much!
> 
> If you liked this and have a moment, please leave me a comment with your thoughts, and reblogs are always more than welcome.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, it’s not my first language.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter…Daryl and Dana kissed!

Back at the prison, Daryl felt all eyes on him and Dana, as if people knew what had happened between them, that they were now together as a couple, though probably it was all in his head, there was no way for them to know. It wasn’t that he wanted to keep it secret, not at all, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit shy about it, besides he was sure Rick was going to have the time of his life teasing him about it.

Dana, though, didn’t seem to mind at all that people looked at them or what they thought, or if they seemed to notice something different between them, or if it was all in Daryl’s head. On their way to the kitchen area to clean their hunted pieces, they walked near Kate, and when she looked at them, Dana held to Daryl’s arm and rubbed the side of her head against his arm like she had done the day before to “mark him as hers.”

Daryl blushed, couldn’t help it, getting flustered and shy, but he also couldn’t help his snort. Was she really jealous? Daryl thought it was ridiculous, but at the same time, the idea sent something weird to his belly. He didn’t think anyone had been jealous over him ever before. She had no reason to feel like that, though, and Daryl hoped she knew. Dana looked at him and smiled, but she didn’t seem upset, if something she seemed amused, and she headbutted his shoulder softly once more.

“Come on, kitten,” Daryl said, couldn’t help his soft, silly smile as he looked at her, ignoring everyone around even if for a second. “Let’s clean this and get it ready to stew it.”

*

That evening, Daryl was torn between having dinner with Dana in any of their cells, like sometimes they did even if now Dana dealt better with people and sometimes dined in the canteen, or going with everyone else. It wasn’t strange for him to dine alone, everyone knew it by now, but sometimes during dinner he got the chance to catch up with the others, especially if it had been a busy day, and today, he and Dana had come back pretty later than usual. Yes, they had kind of gotten distracted here and there, Daryl still couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea of Dana kissing him, wanting to be with him, couldn’t help the weird things in his belly, and every time Dana caught him looking at her like that, in wonder and awe, she’d seem amused and she’d stop to kiss him again, which had proven to be pretty distracting. But still, they had managed to hunt quite a few pieces, and so Daryl didn’t feel too guilty.

Since it was later than usual while they cleaned their pieces, Daryl offered to get dinner ready too, letting the grateful guy on kitchen duty had some more free time, and Dana helped him to get everything ready to make stew in several big pots, so it’d last them for more than that night.

“So…what you wanna do, eat with everyone else or alone?” Daryl asked while they cleaned everything.

“Don’t care.” Dana shrugged. “Maggie and Glenn were planning runs.”

“Alright, we can go have dinner with everyone else, see if they have come up with somethin’?”

“Alright.” Dana shrugged again, and then, while Daryl was distracted putting a pot in its place, she suddenly tugged at him and pecked his lips, taking him by surprise, and Daryl couldn’t help the blush that tinted his cheeks. It seemed to be the reaction that Dana was looking for, as she smiled, seeming amused. They had just been together for a few hours, and she’d already proved that she liked to get him all flustered when he least expected it. It made him feel silly, and yet, Daryl couldn’t help his small, bashful smile. Chewing on his lip, he pushed past his shyness to wrap his arm around Dana, holding her to his side.

“Come on, kitten, let’s feed these people.”

While they had dinner sat down with the others, Daryl tried to pay attention to what Maggie and Glenn were saying, really tried, but sometimes it seemed as if his eyes wanted to wander to Dana, who was sat down near him, his mind still in awe at the idea of them being now together, that she wanted him like that, and even though it still made him nervous and maybe even a bit, just a bit, scared, whenever his eyes wandered to her, Dana would look at him too, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of her lip, and Daryl couldn’t stop his own, looking away quickly every time before he got too flustered.

He was afraid the others noticed that something was going on, though, he could already see Rick smirking and arching his eyebrows at him, and Daryl rolled his eyes, looking away from Rick and towards Glenn and Maggie, but they too seemed kind of amused, though Daryl hoped that it was his mind playing tricks on him. He’d teased and made fun of Glenn and Maggie sometimes getting caught up on each other, oblivious to everything else, and now it seemed as if he was doing the same, but he couldn’t help it, even if it was embarrassing.

“You think they know ‘bout us?” Daryl asked to Dana when they were in the corridor at the outside of their cells, and she smirked and nodded. “Oh…” He couldn’t help his shyness.

Dana frowned. “Don’t want them to?”

“No…just…I don’t care, just…” Daryl honestly didn’t care what the other thoughts, and still, his shyness was there. “Just…”

“Shy,” Dana smirked and Daryl was glad that she didn’t think he might be embarrassed about being with her or something stupid like that.

“Yeah…I guess…” Daryl admitted, looking down and fidgeting. “Ain’t lookin’ forward to them joking’and teasin’…” He guessed he’d have it coming for having messed like that with Maggie and Glenn…and yet… “Rick’s bein’ a prick and teasin’ me about you since you came here already.”

“Yeah?” Dana’s smirk went bigger. “About?”

“Nothing, he was just bein’ stupid on purpose…” Daryl shrugged, though now that he thought about it, maybe Rick hadn’t been so stupid after all. Dana didn’t say anything, but suddenly she was tugging at him to peck his lips, once more taking him by surprise.

“It’s fun,” she said. “Teasing you.”

Daryl scoffed, flustered, hating that once again he was blushing. “Pff…maybe you’re spendin’ too much time with Rick lately…”

Dana grinned. “It’s fun. ‘Cause you’re shy.”

“Yeah, whatever…” Daryl rolled his eyes, scoffing, but his burning cheeks betrayed him. “Let’s get some sleep.”

“Can I sleep here?” Dana nodded towards his cell.

“You uh…you wanna?”

Dana shrugged. “Only if you do.”

“Yeah…” Daryl nodded, swallowing hard.

He didn’t know what to do, and so he went directly to the unmade bed, sitting down on it as Dana walked behind him, and kicking off his boots before lying down on the bed without even thinking about changing clothes, his mind too busy at the idea of Dana joining him to sleep…The cot was small, and Daryl hoped she wouldn’t be uncomfortable, or that he’d push her or kick her while they slept, or something, and she’d decide to leave and go back to her cell… Maybe he should drag another mattress there like Maggie and Glenn had done…or maybe he had gotten ahead of himself…or maybe…

Daryl lost his train of thoughts when he realized that after taking off her boots, Dana was pulling off her trousers too, and Daryl didn’t know if she did it to sleep more comfortable or if she was just trying to mess with him and get him all flustered again, or both, but he tried his best not to look away, not to get flustered, failing only a tiny bit.

Dana looked at him and Daryl lied down on the bed, moving towards the wall to leave room for her on the bed. Dana lied down, propping herself on an elbow to look at him, smiling softly, and Daryl swallowed hard, feeling those butterflies in his belly again. She reached out her other hand to softly caress his face and hair, and Daryl’s eyes closed as a content sigh escaped his lips.

“Shy. But cute,” Dana whispered, and then she leaned to kiss his lips, and Daryl didn’t try to fight her words, too busy kissing her. Dana pulled back, smiling at him, before she lied down, resting her head on his chest and throwing an arm over him, and even one of her legs, snuggling to him as much as possible, and Daryl couldn’t help but love the feeling.

Daryl wrapped his arm around her, holding her to him, and when he began to stroke her arm softly, he swore he could almost hear her purr like an actual cat. “Night, kitten,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head, and Dana snuggled even more to him, holding to his shirt as if she didn’t want to let go of him, and…Daryl would be lying if he didn’t say that he loved it. It still might feel unreal and a bit scary, this having a relationship thing, but…it felt too good, being snuggled on bed with Dana, good enough for him to want to not overthink it and just enjoy it for once.

When Daryl woke up, Dana was still snuggled to him, lying over his chest, face almost buried on the crook of his shoulder, and Daryl couldn’t help how content he felt or the smile that spread across his face. He tightened his arm around her and nuzzled her hair, wondering if he’d ever felt like this before, so warm, and content and just…so good.

Maybe having a relationship didn’t have to be scary after all, maybe things would be the same between them, but now he could hold her to him, kiss her, and all the things that made him feel those bubbly butterflies in his belly, making him feel a bit silly, but at the same time, too good to care about it being silly or not.

He felt Dana pressing her lips against his neck and then she was looking up from his shoulder to give him a lazy smile. “Morning, kitten,” Daryl said quietly, reaching out to brush her knuckles across her cheek gently, a bit in awe about being waking up with her, about how it made him feel, but the gesture of affection seemed to come naturally to him somehow.

Dana nuzzled his neck again and she shifted to straddle his hips, looking down at him. She smiled again, reaching down to caress his face softly and then run her fingers through his hair, before she leaned to kiss his lips, and Daryl could swear that he felt himself melt. When their lips parted, Daryl had his eyes still closed, and he felt Dana placing kisses along his neck. He took a sharp breath when Dana sucked on his skin, and she pulled away to look at him.

“Okay?” She asked and Daryl nodded. Dana smiled and kissed his lips softly before going for his neck again. “Mine…” She murmured before she sucked on his neck again, and Daryl wondered if she was actually trying to mark him. He snorted but couldn’t help but get a bit flustered too, and he reached to cup her face, gently making Dana look at him.

“Hey…you ain’t really jealous are you,” he asked softly and Dana didn’t say anything. “You don’t gotta be…there’s…” Daryl chewed on his lip, trying to push past his shyness. Dana was sat down on his lap, without trousers, how in the world he was still shy, but talking about feelings had never been his forte. “There’s no one else I’d like to…to be like I’m with you, to have what we have.”

Dana smiled at that, caressing his face again before kissing his lips. “I’m yours,” she whispered, and Daryl couldn’t stop the butterflies in his belly even if he was flustered too. “Don’t want to be with anyone else.” Daryl’s heart was beating hard against his chest and he didn’t know what to say, and so he decided to just pull Dana even closer and kiss her lips again.

Eventually, Dana sat up, looking down at him, running her hands down his chest and Daryl chewed on his lip as she looked at her above him, swallowing hard when one of Dana’s hands found its way under his shirt, Dana smiled softly at him when she noticed it.

“Shy…” She whispered, pecking his lips before Daryl could try to negate it, no matter he was blushing. “Cute,” she whispered before pecking the tip of his nose, and somehow the gesture made Daryl feel like he was melting again. Dana sat up again and smiled at him softly before nodding towards the closed door of the cell. “Hunting?”

Despite the dark sheet that covered the door of his cell, Daryl could see light outside, filtering into the cell, and he knew it was later than usual. He could hear people’s voices around too, the prison waking up. “Yeah…” He nodded, he couldn’t spend all day lying in bed with Dana…Daryl didn’t think he had ever wanted to spend the day in bed, he’d drive himself crazy with the inactivity, but maybe that was before he had Dana in bed with him, snuggled to him and kissing him, and…and he really needed to start moving.

Daryl sat up, Dana still on his lap, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him again before he could do anything, and he let out a sound of surprise against her lips before he found himself melting into her again. Dana pulled back as suddenly as she had kissed him, and she got up from his lap, stepping out of the bed. She bent down and picked up her discarded trousers, walking to the door and lifting the curtain without bothering to put the trousers on.

“You’re gonna just go out with no trousers on?” Daryl snorted, but it didn’t surprise him.

Dana shrugged. “My cells next to yours.” She left his cell but reappeared a few minutes later, fully dressed, looking at him from the door while Daryl finished getting ready too, tying his boots.

“Let’s grab some breakfast and get going,” he told her and Dana nodded. As he stepped out of his cell, Daryl glanced towards hers and then at her, chewing on his lip. “You uh…if you wanna…if you wanna you can move your stuff to my cell?” Daryl couldn’t help his nerves as he looked at her, wondering if he was getting ahead of himself, if he shouldn’t have asked, he was a bit clueless in this having a relationship thing, but to his relief, Dana grinned and nodded, before suddenly pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

Daryl couldn’t help the blushing of his cheeks, and that his first instinct was to look around, see if someone had caught them kissing, and yet when Dana smiled softly at him and reached down to take his hand, lacing her fingers with his and tugging at him to walk with her, he found that he couldn’t really care about someone seeing them holding hands. They were together, and if it made him feel that good, then there was no point feeling embarrassed or anxious about it, when he could just let himself enjoy it for once.

*

Daryl woke up once again with Dana in his arms, and even after weeks together, it still made him smile and snuggle to her, content and warm. He found himself lazing in bed too often now, when before he usually jumped out of it to get things done, go out to the woods…but he couldn’t help himself with Dana there, lying next to him, curled up to him.

Dana was lying on her side and she seemed still asleep, her warm back pressed against his chest as Daryl curled up around her, tightening the arm that he had wrapped around her. Daryl kissed her shoulder and then nuzzled her hair, letting out a content sigh. He felt Dana waking up and then she turned around in his arms to give him a lazy smile before pecking his lips, and she burrowed her face on his chest, snuggling to him and wrapping her arms around him too.

“We have to go hunting,” Daryl murmured though he didn’t move a bit, and Dana hummed and nodded without moving either. “You make me lazy…” Daryl complained, chuckling.

Dana pulled back to look at him, arching an eyebrow, seeming amused. “Me?”

“Yeah, you…” Daryl nuzzled her neck, smiling when she laughed as he tickled her. “Being like this.”

“Like what?” Dana reached out to stroke his hair, brushing it away from his face but Daryl just shrugged, he didn’t know how to explain to her everything that she made him feel, and he felt too shy to try to say it aloud. He hoped she understood it without words, though. Dana smiled softly, kissing his lips before pulling back. “Come on. Hunt.”

*

Waking up with Dana in his arms, lying over his chest, was not strange or surprising for Daryl anymore, but it felt as good as the first day, and it made him as lazy as the first day, wanting to just snuggle on the bed with her, warm and content, for a little bit. It was early enough that he didn’t have to hurry out of the bed, early enough for him to allow himself to be lazy even if just for a moment…They had to go on a run, but the prison was still dark and silent. Daryl nuzzled Dana’s hair softly, wrapping his arm more tightly around her when he felt her waking up, snuggling to him even more.

Daryl was caressing her hair carefully and then he let his fingers brush over her shoulder and neck, moving over the scar that marked her skin down her neck and to her back without realizing it, until he felt Dana freezing in his arms. “Sorry…” He apologized in a whisper.

“They marked me like cattle,” she said bitterly.

Daryl kept stroking her shoulder as he chewed on his lip, unsure about asking her or not… “Who did this?”

“Assholes.”

“Yeah, I…I had figured that much…” Daryl didn’t press it, though, just kept stroking her skin softly, curled up with her, and he was about to tell her that they should stop being lazy and get to work, they had to go to a run, when Dana spoke.

“I was alone, had been for days, a group of men found me…thought they were going to help me, they said they would…they didn’t. Took me to their settlement, old campsite, big…there were two women there, they didn’t look at me, didn’t talk to me, seemed scared, I didn’t like it, I tried to walk away, they didn’t let me…then I saw cages, there were people in them…” Dana explained quietly, and Daryl had to wonder again how there were so many fucked up people in the world, now all teaming up, it seemed.

“They wanted me to clean the place with the other two women and have sex with them. I bit off the lip of the one who tried to kiss me…”

Daryl could almost see it, but he wished he could actually see it, see his feral kitten biting off the lip of an asshole who tried to force himself on her…he was boiling in anger but tried to keep it down, and he kissed the top of Dana’s hair.

“They were angry…held me and beat me…I thought they’d kill me but they didn’t, threw me in one of the cages. There were some men and women in them, some were hurt. Nobody spoke to me or looked at me. I didn’t know what was going on…” Dana kept going, and Daryl thought it was the longest he’d heard her speak, and so he stayed quiet, letting her do it, wanting to know and also wanting her to get it out of her system.

“I found out at night. Each night, those assholes got bored and drunk, picked up two people from the cages, gave them knives, made them fight until one of them was dead. Someone told me that the ones who tried to resist it and didn’t fight, were shot and killed…so they killed you and your rival if you didn’t fight. They branded us with irons, made patterns and marks so they knew who we belonged to, would take bets to see whose fighter would win.” Daryl had seen a lot of shit both before walkers and after, but that was more than sick.

“Whenever they picked me, I’d fight…I killed people. I…I didn’t want to…I didn’t…but…a man pointed the gun to my head, told me to finish the job or he’d kill me and then the other person…so I…I…I did it…every night they picked me…I’d kill the other person before they, or the men, killed me…but I didn’t want to…I didn’t…”

Dana looked up from his chest, tears falling down her eyes as she swallowed hard, and Daryl didn’t think he’d ever seen her looking like that. He hated it, it hurt, it was a dart to the heart, and he hated that she’d gone through something like that. He couldn’t imagine it. “I know, kitten, I know…” He whispered, trying to comfort her, to reassure her, wishing that he knew how to make it better, hating that he didn’t know what to do or say. He kissed her lips, tasting her tears, before Dana snuggled to him again, tight, and Daryl wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest tightly, feeling her shaking.

“So I…I kept killing…until I was picked every night…until…until there was nobody else in the cages but me…” Dana swallowed hard. “I thought that they’d kill me now, I had murdered all those people just to be killed anyway. But they said they were going out to find more people…or walkers for me to fight, if they didn’t find anything else. Left a couple of men watching the place. Idiots. Called for one of them, took off my clothes, told him I was bored and to get in the cell with me. Idiot. He thought I was going to unzip his pants, I took the knife from his belt, slit his throat. Went for the other man, gutted him before he could shot me. The two women were scared, told them I’d help them but they…they seemed scared of me…wouldn’t let me close…they took some stuff and ran away…”

On one side, Daryl thought that those women were idiots, but on the other, he could understand them a bit, he’d seen how Dana could be when she got feral, and the women had seen her fighting and killing people every night, even if she was forced to do so, and Daryl could see her, maybe naked and bloodied after killing the two men. Still, probably those women would have been better off with her, safer and protected.

“I didn’t run. Went to the armory, took a riffle. Climbed on top of their lookout, waited for the other men to come back, shoot at them all. All the bullets. They didn’t see it coming. Then I left…was on my own until Rick and you found me.” Dana didn’t say anything else, and Daryl didn’t know what to say either, he was afraid of saying the wrong thing, but it felt wrong to just stay silent after Dana had told him everything.

“I…uh…I’m sorry…” Daryl muttered, it was lame but he didn’t know what else to say, and he felt Dana nodding. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” If only he could take her pain and trauma from her…”I uh…”

Daryl hated that he didn’t know what to say, that he wasn’t good with words. Dana didn’t seem to mind, she sat up, stroking his cheek and leaning to kiss it before she pulled back again. “We got a run. Come on.”

“Wait…” Daryl sat up and wrapped his arms around Dana before she could pull back, and he kissed her forehead, feeling pleased when it made her smile. “Nothing like that it’s ever gonna happen to you again, alright? I ain’t gonna let that happen,” Daryl assured her and Dana nodded in silence. “Not that you need me, I’ve seen you fighting, you’re a lioness…” Daryl murmured shyly, but he meant it, when he saw Dana’s smirk,he didn’t care about shyness anymore. Still, even if she was badass and a fighter, a survivor, so strong and skilled, Daryl would do anything in his hand to keep her safe, to take care of her, to protect her life with his if needed. He had the feeling that Dana thought the same about him, though. “But…I ain’t letting anyone hurt you ever again.”

Dana gave him that small half-smile. “I know,” she whispered before leaning to kiss his lips, and when she pulled back, Daryl leaned to hold his forehead against hers.

“Thank you for telling me all that,” he told her quietly. “I know it ain’t easy…I appreciate it. Thank you.”

Dana nodded, her forehead nudging his. “I trust you,” she whispered, and somehow, her words alone made Daryl feel like he could melt as something twirled in his belly.

“And I trust you too,” he murmured.

Dana pulled back and smiled at him. “I’m not letting anyone hurt you either,” she said quietly before kissing his lips again. “Come on. We got a run.”

The run was as good as it could go. As always, they didn’t find as many stuff as they’d have wanted, but that was usual, everything was scarcer and scarcer each new run, and Daryl knew they were lucky they had the prison with orchards, farming and hunting their own food, building their own stuff, for when every place ran dry and there wouldn’t be a chance to find stuff on runs as often anymore. But nobody had been hurt, and that was the important thing.

There had been walkers around, and so Daryl had seen once more how Dana could go from the kitten that shared his bed and snuggled to him, to the feral cat that fought walkers ferociously, viciously sinking her knife into their heads. She was skillful but sometimes it worried Daryl how she just threw herself at walkers, no matter that she always came on top, dead bodies piling up around her. Whenever he told her, though, Dana just rolled her eyes and pecked his lips to shut him up and, Daryl was pretty sure, to get him flustered too.

It always came to his mind how Rick, Carol, and the others always told him to be careful when on runs he didn’t think it twice about throwing himself at walkers, putting them down before they could hurt any of his family, trusting his skill…now he was experiencing first hand how it was to worry about someone doing the same, though if he was honest, he still did it. But now, they had each other, Dana and him, fighting together, having each other’s back, protecting their family, making sure no walker or any threat could get to them, and even if he’d be embarrassed to say it aloud. Daryl sometimes, sometimes, allowed himself to think that maybe together, they could be unstoppable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got fluff, and Dana’s backstory, and more fluff. I hope you liked the chapter. If you did, please let me know your thoughts in a comment. We got back to action next chapter! (But, no, won’t follow the prison show plotline).
> 
> As always, excuse my English.


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl woke up to the feeling of Dana’s fingers running through his hair and he smiled, letting out a content sigh, snuggling to her as he lied over her chest, and he felt her kissing the top of his head. “Hmm…we gotta go huntin’…” he murmured against her skin, nuzzling her neck. “Don’t make me lazy.”

“Okay…” Dana began moving under him to shake him off and get up, and Daryl couldn’t stop himself from letting out a sound of complaint, even if it embarrassed him.

“Wait…”

Dana had sat up but Daryl refused to move, holding her and keeping his head on her lap now. Dana looked at him, smirking as she arched an eyebrow. “Lazy?” She joked.

“Yeah, whatever…” Daryl murmured, nuzzling her belly and making her laugh, before he looked up at her. “You still up for the huntin’ trip.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright…let’s go then.”

A couple of days ago, Daryl had asked Dana if she’d like to go out to the woods with him on a hunting trip for a day or two, getting further away from the prison than usual, hoping to find a deer, it’d been a while since he had hunted something big that could feed them for long. Dana had agreed, and when Daryl told Rick, he’d seemed to think it a good idea too, even if as always he reminded him to be careful. He also decided to tease him about it being just an excuse to be alone with Dana away from everyone else, and alright, Daryl wasn’t going to complain about that, the main idea was the hunting, but Daryl could admit, to himself at least, that he liked the idea of being alone in the woods with Dana for a day or two.

Daryl had already traced on his mind the route he wanted to take, though he took a map anyway, just in case, and once they had everything ready, he and Dana left the prison and went to the woods, first following their usual path and then getting deeper into it. They walked for most of the day, stopping just to eat and take a break, until the sun began to go down and Daryl went to find a good spot for the night.

They set a perimeter with some cord tied around the trees, hanging cans that would rattle if anything walked into the cord, and settled for the night. They had brought some fabric to make some sort of tent, but the night was good enough, and so they decided not to, getting settled just with their sleeping bags and blankets. 

As they dined in dried, rabbit meat, Daryl couldn’t help but watch Dana as she ate, thinking about when he found her, tried to get her to trust him, gave her dried meat and water so at least she’d be fed, feeling like there was no way she’d let him take her to the prison where she could be safe…and not only did she go with him, trusted him, now she slept curled up with him every night…Daryl felt a silly smile tugging at his lip, but he couldn’t stop it, butterflies dancing in his belly for a moment.

“What?” Dana asked him, looking at him, and Daryl shook his head, looking down as he blushed a bit. Dana didn’t say anything, but she headbutted his arm softly and pressed a kiss to his shoulder.

“Alright…” Daryl said once the sky was dark. “I’ll take first watch.”

“No.”

“No?” Daryl frowned at Dana.

“No. You won’t wake me.”

“I will…” Daryl said, though yeah, if Dana was fast asleep, he knew he probably wouldn’t want to disturb her rest.

“No.” Dana shook her head, stubborn. “I take first watch. You sleep.”

“Alright, alright…” By now, Daryl knew better than to try to argue. “But you better wake me to take watch later.” Dana nodded and when Daryl settled down on his sleeping bag, Dana looked at him and patted her lap, and Daryl thought it just for a second before shifting to lie down with his head on her lap, closing his eyes and letting out a content sigh as Dana began playing with his hair, lulling him into sleep.

He woke up later that night to Dana stroking his face to wake him up, bopping his nose and giggling when he scrunched it, and Daryl opened his eyes with a sleepy groan, sitting up. “Time to take watch…” He murmured and Dana nodded, leaning to kiss his lips before she shifted to lie down on her sleeping bag, curling next to him and resting her head on his lap. She looked up at him and smiled, and Daryl couldn’t help his own smile, brushing his knuckles over her cheek. “Sleep,” he whispered, as she carefully began to caress her locks of hair, that were getting a tiny bit longer, and Y/N closed her eyes and snuggled to him.

The next morning, as soon as the sun was rising, they began trying to find a deer, and eventually, Daryl thought he’d found tracks of one. They followed it for a while, hoping to find a deer soon, something to bring back to the prison and to feed them for days, until at some point, Daryl realized that Dana had stopped following him. He looked at her, frowning.

“Come on.”

Dana shook her head, pointing at the ground. “It went in that direction.”

“What, no.” Daryl shook his head, pointing at the ground too. “That’s somethin’ else, the trail we’re following goes through here.”

“No…these,” Dana insisted and Daryl rolled his eyes.

“What, you’re the expert now?” Sure, he’d been teaching Dana to track, but he was pretty confident that he was right.

Dana shrugged and smirked. “Wanna bet?”

“Alright, smartass,” Daryl snorted. “You follow your trail, I follow mine, see who brings a deer back home.”

“Me.” Danna grinned, but when Daryl looked at her turning around, he wondered if it was a good idea, and he reached out for her arm.

“Wait…we shouldn’t split.”

“It’ll be fine.” Dana rolled her eyes. “I’ll win. Come on.”

Daryl chewed on his lip…they hadn’t seen any threat around, no walkers, and he knew Dana could take care of herself in the woods…and she seemed set on proving that she was right, it could be a good way of practicing, letting her follow her own trail. “Alright, just…just don’t go for walkers or nothin’, okay? Be careful, yeah?”

Dana rolled her eyes but nodded. “Can take care of myself. I’m no kitten.”

“Yes you are,” Daryl teased and he couldn’t help his smile.

Dana scoffed, smiling too, before she lent to peck his lips. “Just with you,” she murmured before pulling back, inspecting her trail again and turning around to follow it. “You are going to lose.”

“Yeah, sure…We meet where we set camp in not more than a couple of hours, alright? Whether we found something or not.” Even if it might take him more than that to find the deer, he didn’t want Dana to wander alone for longer, and she was way more important than a deer. Dana nodded as she kept walking away, rifle ready, and Daryl let out a sigh, shaking his head as he followed his own trail.

After a little while following the trail, he found the deer, eating grass some meters away from him, still oblivious to his presence, and Daryl crouched down, hiding, silent…He knew he’d been right, and he smirked, sure Dana must be now back at their camp, all grumpy.

Daryl aimed his crossbow but before he could shoot, the deer lifted its head, ears moving, and then it was running away. Daryl cursed aloud, wondering what had scared it, he was pretty sure he hadn’t made any noise. He hoped that there weren’t walkers near that could get the deer before he could, and also that could get to Dana, even if she could deal with them. Daryl considered to go back already and find her, but he was so close to getting the deer, that would feed them for long…he decided to check if the deer was still near, if not, then he’d go back for Dana. They could get some squirrels and rabbits and go out for deer any other day, why not, it’d be good, camping outside with her more often.

When he approached the place where the deer had been, he realized what had scared it. Human voices. Shit…that was even worse than walkers. He went to hide among some trees and bushes, listening…

“You said you’d bring us to your people but what did you do instead? You bring us to an empty cabin.” A voice was saying. “You think we’re stupid?” There was the sound of a blow and a grunt. “What did we say that we’d do if you didn’t cooperate? That we’d kill you, right? So once again…where’s your group?”

Daryl didn’t know what to do, but quietly, he approached the voice, still hidden, and he found a small group of men surrounding another on his knees, and a man had a gun pointed to his head…just by the look of them, Daryl recognized them. Raiders, murderers, and all those assholes that now roamed the world taking advantage of others and terrorizing people.

“No? You are not going to help? I’ll have to shoot then.”

Daryl knew that it was probably a very bad idea, but he could do nothing while those assholes executed a man in front of him, and so, still hidden, he aimed his crossbow and shot at the man who was holding the gun.

“What the hell?!”

All the other men looked around, startled, and quickly Daryl made sure to stay still hidden, although he had no idea of how he could help the man.

“Who’s there?!” Another man yelled before looking and the one on his knees, who was looking around with eyes wide in shock. “Maybe you brought us to your people after all? You thought you could set a trap for us? We’ll kill you and your friends!” The man aimed his gun at the one on his knees and Daryl cursed internally, getting another arrow ready as quick and silently as he could and shooting. This time, another of the men was able to see the direction from where the arrow had been shot, and he walked towards it, aiming his rifle, and so Daryl tried to crawl as silent as possible, hidden in the bushes. This had been such a damn bad, worse than a bad idea.

“You are a coward, aren’t you? Hiding like that.” One of the men taunted him, as if he thought Daryl would be enough of an idiot to fall for it. “Alright, then.” The man yanked the prisoner to his feet and pressed the blade of a knife against his throat. “If you don’t walk out of your hiding hole, I slit your friend’s throat.” Shit…shit…yes, this had to be one of his worst, dumbest ideas ever…Daryl didn’t know what to do. As if to prove his point, the man pressed the blade harder, drawing blood.

Shit…Daryl knew that it was suicide to show himself, a really more than bad idea, but he couldn’t just let them kill a man because of him…sure, they were going to kill him anyway, but he had decided to be an idiot and play hero when he wasn’t one, had made everything worse, and now the death of the man would be his fault too. Shit damn it. Taking a deep breath, Daryl stepped into sight, crossbow in front of him, arrow ready.

The man holding the prisoner smiled darkly and to Daryl’s shock, he slit the man’s throat before Daryl could do anything, and when Daryl shot, it was already too late, the asshole using the dead body of the other man as a shield for the arrow. Daryl wondered who’d be faster him recharging his bow or the man taking his gun, but before he could even try, Daryl felt a hard blow to his head, hard enough to made him lose consciousness, without even time to realize that he hadn’t noticed another man approaching him from behind, kicking the butt of his rifle into his head.

When Daryl had woken up, realizing that he wasn’t dead, he’d found himself in a small, tattered cabin, tied down to a chair, one of the men in front of him, seemingly waiting for him to wake up, and once he did, he had begun interrogating him, asking him if he had a group and where, beating him, while another man looked at them from a corner. The man had kept going, Daryl wasn’t sure for how long, but he wasn’t going to say anything. If those assholes thought they were the first to beat him, he had news for them. No matter what they did, he wouldn’t talk.

Daryl could feel his face bruising, blood on it, but he didn’t open his mouth. He’d guessed by now that the man would get tired eventually, that he’d realized that he wasn’t going to talk, and Daryl guessed that then he’d kill him. He didn’t want to die, sure he didn’t, he would rather not think on it, because it scared him more than he’d never, ever admit to anyone, but he wasn’t going to talk, he would never put his people in danger.

The man delivered another blow to his face and Daryl tried to ignore it, letting his head hang loose as he tried to go somewhere else in his mind. He wondered what was Dana doing. He hoped so bad that she was safe, he was so glad they had split, that she had gone in the opposite direction, so the men hadn’t found her…at least he hoped they hadn’t, she hadn’t been near. He wondered if she was now in their camp, waiting for him. What would she do? Would she look for him? Daryl didn’t know where the men had taken him, but there was no way for Dana to know either.

Would she go back to the prison? Daryl hoped so, that she wouldn’t decide to just keep being on her own again. But no, she had more bonds now, with his family, with their people, sure she’d go back to the prison….he was going to hurt his family, he knew, with them knowing him lost to them, they had to guess that something had happened to him, that he was either dead or a dead walking. Daryl hated to make them go through that, through another loss. But they would recover, they had each other, they could keep going without him, they’d be fine…

Dana would be fine too, she was a survivor, strong, a lioness…but she could be a kitten too, his kitten, and Daryl knew that him dying was going to hurt her. He hated to do that to her. He hated that his time with her had been cut short…now that he’d found someone that made him feel the way Dana did, someone whom he loved like that, now that he had something like what Dana and him had, something he’d been so sure for so long that he’d never have…and these assholes were going to put an end to it.

At least he knew his family would be okay, and Dana too, he hoped that she’d go back to the prison, back to their people, even if she could survive alone, she shouldn’t have to, and he wanted the others to be with her now, when he knew she would be hurt about him been gone…she’d overcome that too. Daryl tried to think on all that, on his family, safe and well at the prison, on Dana, while another blow was delivered, the man asked again, though Daryl didn’t pay attention to it.

The man seemed to be tired of him, and while he yelled his questions again, the next blow was a punch to Daryl’s gut, hard, and he couldn’t help his grunt as he bent over on the chair, gasping for air, before the man yanked his hair painfully, tugging him up and asking for his group again, but Daryl just stared blankly past him, with you seemed to anger the man more.

“Yeah? You’re mute? I’m sure you aren’t…” The man punched his stomach again and Daryl couldn’t help another grunt, gasping for air. “Come on…I know you have a group, don’t try saying no. Just tell me where they are and this will end…Come on!” The next blow was a kick to his ribs that brought tears of pain to his eyes, but Daryl didn’t say anything. Yes, this would end, sooner or later, whenever the man got tired of asking and him not saying anything.

“Okay…let’s see…” The man grabbed Daryl’s crossbow, on the ground next to his bag. “This is really cool…doesn’t look that hard to use…” The man inspected it, getting an arrow ready, and aimed at Daryl’s face. “It’ll be pathetic, yeah? Getting killed by your own weapon.” The man chuckled. “So come on…tell me, or I’ll put one of your pretty arrows into your face.” Daryl just stared at the man, silent, trying not to show his fear and pain.

The man shot, but not to his face, he moved the crossbow so the arrow embedded itself into Daryl’s shoulder, and he couldn’t help but cry out in pain, feeling his shoulder burning, and he couldn’t help the tears in his eyes again.

“Yeah, it hurts, uh? I bet it does.” The man chuckled. “Come on. Tell me where’s your group and this will end.” Daryl just looked down, head hanging low, gasping for air as he tried not to whimper, trying to ignore the pain. “No…okay…” The man got even closer and before Daryl knew what was going on, he was pressing on the arrow that stuck from his shoulder, and Daryl cried out in pain again, couldn’t stop himself. “You brought this to yourself…”

Daryl heard the man say before he fell unconscious from the pain…the man didn’t let him, though, slapping him hard, making him wake up, demanding answers, though Daryl could barely understand it, the pain was almost numbing, but he came back to his senses slowly.

“You’re not going to speak? Then you don’t need your tongue, right?” The man grabbed his chin roughly, making him look up at him, fingers biting into his cheeks painfully, a knife on his other hand, and again, Daryl tried not to show any fear, breathing hard. “No…what if I take your eyes, uh? Would that make you talk? Let’s find out…”

Daryl felt the blade of the knife above his eyebrow, cutting into his skin, and he bit his lip, trying not to whimper in pain as the man dragged it down to his eyebrow, he wouldn’t say anything no matter what…

Before the knife reached his eye, though, Daryl heard some voices from outside the cabin, some yelling and some gunshots. The man stepped away from him, looking towards the door, and so did the one who had been watching at them from the corner. “See what’s going on!”

The man nodded and went to the door, reaching out, but before he could open it, the door was yanked open and there was a gunshot, the man dropping dead to the ground, allowing Daryl to see who was on the door…

Dana, blood spattered all over her, stood there, that feral look on her, murder in her eyes, and a riffle aimed in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, shit happened.
> 
> If you liked the chapter, please let me know your thoughts. One left to go.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.

**Author's Note:**

> There we go…I really, really hoped that you liked this. If you enjoyed the chapter and have a moment, please let me know your thoughts. Your supports means a lot to me, and it’s what keeps me motivated to put down into words my daydreams instead of just keeping them for myself.
> 
> As always, excuse my English, is not my first language.


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